Gen 8 My Team is Bad, I Know. How Do I Make it Better?

So I just started out on competitive playing. First, I just got an assortment of dominating pokemon in SS OU and mashed them together. After that, I begin to change my pokemon setup, and eventually ended up with two sweepers and a whole lot of pokemon supporting them. Yes, I know this team is dumb.

(And I know, these are not the moving sprites you see in other threads. How do I make those, anyways?)

Latios w/ Choice Scarf:
EV Spread: 4 Hp, 252 Spa, 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
Ice Beam
Flamethrower
Draco Meteor
Thunder

Now you might be thinking: What the heck is this Latios here for? The answer is: lead removal. The dominance of Landorus - T, Pelipper, Ferrothorn, and others forces my hand. Basically, it is there to cut off all of the common leads and get an instant advantage. After it switches out, it could be used as last-resort pokemon for finishing off big threats such as toxapex.

Blaziken w/ Life Orb
EV spread: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Speed Boost
Thunder punch
Swords dance
Flare Blitz
High Jump Kick

This may be a bit biased, as blaziken isn't a really good sweeper. However, I use him because A. He is my favorite starter and B. After one swords dance he can be terrifying to face. After one swords dance and speed boost he would be off and ready to kill. Flare Blitz and High Jump Kick are good stab, while thunder punch is coverage. Classic set.


Heatran w/ Leftovers:
EV Spread: 4 HP, 252 Sp Atk, 252 Sp Def
Nature: Calm
Ability: Flame Body
Magma Storm
Flash Cannon
Flamethrower
Taunt

Heatran is the answer to the prevalence of fairy types and grass/steel types. Magma storm forces them in if they're foolish enough not to switch out, taunt forbids them from using any status moves, and flash cannon and flamethrower just acts as STAB. This is heatran setup is probably not ideal, but it worked for me.


Tapu Koko w/ Life Orb:
EV Spread: 252 Sp Atk, 4 Sp Def, 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Ability: Electric Surge
Volt Switch
Thunderbolt
Dazzling Gleam
Defog

I think you know where I'm going with this. Tapu Koko is basically the bane of water types, with volt switch as pivot and thunderbolt for conistent damage. Dazzling gleam is secondary stab and useful at times. Defog is entry hazard removal, but entry hazards aren't really as popular as they were before due to heavy duty boots, so I'm fine with it being the only entry hazard removal.
Its other function is, of course...


Hawlucha w/ Electric Seed:
EV Spread: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Unburden
Swords Dance
High Jump Kick
Acrobatics
Poison Jab

And there he is! Hawlucha paired with electric terrain and one swords dance is very powerful. In fact, I swept entire teams with this one guy. Swords dance is for boosting attack, High Jump Kick and Acrobatics are both good stabs and poison jab is for hitting fairy types that resist both STABS, such as opposing Tapu Kok.


Rillaboom w/ Leftovers:
EV Spread: 252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Grassy Surge
Drum Beating
Grassy Slide
Knock Off
U-turn

If you haven't noticed before, my team is really weak to ground types. Rillaboom takes care of that problem with both Grassy Terrain and Multiple Grass STABS. Knock Off is self-explanatory, and U-turn is to get out of sticky situations.

So yes, this is my trash team. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you!
 

BT89

go on, take everything
is a Pre-Contributor
Hello! I have some advice for how you can fix this team!

:ss/latios:

I think your Latios is rather suboptimal in the current metagame. If you want to beat the threats you had mentioned, I think the following Latios set is able to do that while also maintaining more general utility as a breaker:

Latios @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Trick
- Aura Sphere

This set boasts the ability to threaten out all of the Pokemon you had mentioned while also more consistently breaking the likes of Toxapex.

:ss/blaziken:

Run Close Combat over High Jump Kick, the higher power is not worth the 50% recoil.

:ss/heatran:

Considering this build is leaning towards a more offensively-oriented style, I think the following Heatran set will end up providing more usefulness with more consistency:

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

This set simueltaniously gives your team precious Stealth Rock utility while also giving your team a major offensive threat with very few checks.

:ss/tapu-koko:

Run Roost over Volt Switch and U-turn over Defog. Also run Heavy-Duty Boots as your item.

If you really want to demolish Water-types, you can possibly consider Nature’s Madness to more consistently annoy Gastrodon and other Ground-types. This one is much more optional than everything else, however.

:ss/hawlucha:

I don’t think Hawlucha really fits on this build, as Hawlucha is rather niche and limited to certain hyper offensive teams, and since this team is leaning towards a more bulky offense styled team, I think you should swap it out with Protective Pads Urshifu-Rapid-Strike.

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Protective Pads
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Taunt
- U-turn

This set has emerged as a rising star and a premier Fighting-type wallbreaker in the tier, being able to bypass almost everything bar things like Toxapex, which your team can efficiently handle. It synergizes great with everything here.

:ss/rillaboom:

I think that you should likely consider Choice Scarf Kartana over Rillaboom here, as it seems as though your team lacks a strong cleaner, and Scarf Kartana is one of the more potent cleaners on bulky offense.

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike

This set very much appreciates how much breaking power this team has, wearing down Pokemon like Corviknight and Tangrowth that can end up checking Kartana.

Your team should end up looking like something among the lines of this

https://pokepast.es/188b95422a6b0a30

Hope I could help!
 

ScalchopFren

is my name really that hard to read?
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
How is this team meant to switch around opposing Koko? There's no Ground, and the Electric resists are either chunked by Dazzling Gleam (guaranteed 2HKO on Lati, high chance to 2HKO on Koko) or just 2HKO'd by Thunderbolt anyway. A SpDef Lando would work wonders for that squad, most likely over your own Koko or the chicken. I would ideally say over chicken, because you already have Tran and Shifu to help break Steels for Kart and Lati. Gives a nice pivot and more sturdy Koko answer while also providing an opportunity for some Defog support.

Ideally there would also be a bulky Water of some kind on here, as opposing (Banded) Shifu 2HKOs everything with one or both of its STABs; CC is basically risk-free. Hard to say what it would go over, though, as the structure is pretty solid otherwise.
 
Hello! I have some advice for how you can fix this team!

:ss/latios:

I think your Latios is rather suboptimal in the current metagame. If you want to beat the threats you had mentioned, I think the following Latios set is able to do that while also maintaining more general utility as a breaker:

Latios @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Trick
- Aura Sphere

This set boasts the ability to threaten out all of the Pokemon you had mentioned while also more consistently breaking the likes of Toxapex.

:ss/blaziken:

Run Close Combat over High Jump Kick, the higher power is not worth the 50% recoil.

:ss/heatran:

Considering this build is leaning towards a more offensively-oriented style, I think the following Heatran set will end up providing more usefulness with more consistency:

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

This set simueltaniously gives your team precious Stealth Rock utility while also giving your team a major offensive threat with very few checks.

:ss/tapu-koko:

Run Roost over Volt Switch and U-turn over Defog. Also run Heavy-Duty Boots as your item.

If you really want to demolish Water-types, you can possibly consider Nature’s Madness to more consistently annoy Gastrodon and other Ground-types. This one is much more optional than everything else, however.

:ss/hawlucha:

I don’t think Hawlucha really fits on this build, as Hawlucha is rather niche and limited to certain hyper offensive teams, and since this team is leaning towards a more bulky offense styled team, I think you should swap it out with Protective Pads Urshifu-Rapid-Strike.

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Protective Pads
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Taunt
- U-turn

This set has emerged as a rising star and a premier Fighting-type wallbreaker in the tier, being able to bypass almost everything bar things like Toxapex, which your team can efficiently handle. It synergizes great with everything here.

:ss/rillaboom:

I think that you should likely consider Choice Scarf Kartana over Rillaboom here, as it seems as though your team lacks a strong cleaner, and Scarf Kartana is one of the more potent cleaners on bulky offense.

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike

This set very much appreciates how much breaking power this team has, wearing down Pokemon like Corviknight and Tangrowth that can end up checking Kartana.

Your team should end up looking like something among the lines of this

https://pokepast.es/188b95422a6b0a30

Hope I could help!
How is this team meant to switch around opposing Koko? There's no Ground, and the Electric resists are either chunked by Dazzling Gleam (guaranteed 2HKO on Lati, high chance to 2HKO on Koko) or just 2HKO'd by Thunderbolt anyway. A SpDef Lando would work wonders for that squad, most likely over your own Koko or the chicken. I would ideally say over chicken, because you already have Tran and Shifu to help break Steels for Kart and Lati. Gives a nice pivot and more sturdy Koko answer while also providing an opportunity for some Defog support.

Ideally there would also be a bulky Water of some kind on here, as opposing (Banded) Shifu 2HKOs everything with one or both of its STABs; CC is basically risk-free. Hard to say what it would go over, though, as the structure is pretty solid otherwise.
thank you so much for both of your advice! (I didnt check the forum for a while so sry for the lateness).
 
Hello! I will try to help you with your OU team :)

I will start answerying your question, to put moving sprites you have to write this: :ss/pokemon: and replace eventually ss with the gen you want the sprites for and pokemon with the name of the Pokemon.

Major changes:
:volcarona:>:latios: and :cloyster:>:rillaboom:
Your team is pretty offensive and we can pretty easily switch this into a HO team with screen as we have Koko+Hawlucha, therefore a setup sweeper such as Volcarona can help a lot while Rilla has risen in usage recently but i would try Cloyster as it can help with Flying mons such as Zapdos / Tornadus for Volcarona and Blaziken/Hawlucha while all those 3 help Cloyster by threatening Steel types such as Melmetal or Heatran. Latios isn't really good in OU altho it can be interesting, but Choice Scarf is probably one of the worse set while Calm Mind and Specs could be interesting by getting some kills, but there are better options such as Dragapult. I also don't love Heatran but we can use it with the Balloon set to put Hazards early in the game and eventually status annoying mons.

Minor changes:
:heatran: As i said i don't love it but we can try the Balloon set. The purpose is to eventually lead against mons such as Landorus and Garchomp and to put Rocks, while you will also usually outpace Lando so you will be able to get damage with the Fire moves or to weaken it with Toxic which can be helpful later for Hawlucha or Blaziken.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 184 HP / 72 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

:tapu-koko: As we are making this a HO team, we want screens on it. We also run U-turn>Volt Switch so that after putting the screens we can switch out without fearing Ground mons.

Tapu Koko @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- U-turn
- Discharge / Taunt

We are also replacing HJK on both Fighting moves with Close Combat as we still get the same KO's but without risking to miss.

The team with those suggestions would look like this: https://pokepast.es/99e7f37121654bcb

I also made a second version with Garchomp>Heatran while keeping Rillaboom. I made Rillaboom SD as not running band or SD doesn't give it power enough. Here it is: https://pokepast.es/ea90051ea9c9d03a
 
Hello! I will try to help you with your OU team :)

I will start answerying your question, to put moving sprites you have to write this: :ss/pokemon: and replace eventually ss with the gen you want the sprites for and pokemon with the name of the Pokemon.

Major changes:
:volcarona:>:latios: and :cloyster:>:rillaboom:
Your team is pretty offensive and we can pretty easily switch this into a HO team with screen as we have Koko+Hawlucha, therefore a setup sweeper such as Volcarona can help a lot while Rilla has risen in usage recently but i would try Cloyster as it can help with Flying mons such as Zapdos / Tornadus for Volcarona and Blaziken/Hawlucha while all those 3 help Cloyster by threatening Steel types such as Melmetal or Heatran. Latios isn't really good in OU altho it can be interesting, but Choice Scarf is probably one of the worse set while Calm Mind and Specs could be interesting by getting some kills, but there are better options such as Dragapult. I also don't love Heatran but we can use it with the Balloon set to put Hazards early in the game and eventually status annoying mons.

Minor changes:
:heatran: As i said i don't love it but we can try the Balloon set. The purpose is to eventually lead against mons such as Landorus and Garchomp and to put Rocks, while you will also usually outpace Lando so you will be able to get damage with the Fire moves or to weaken it with Toxic which can be helpful later for Hawlucha or Blaziken.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 184 HP / 72 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

:tapu-koko: As we are making this a HO team, we want screens on it. We also run U-turn>Volt Switch so that after putting the screens we can switch out without fearing Ground mons.

Tapu Koko @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- U-turn
- Discharge / Taunt

We are also replacing HJK on both Fighting moves with Close Combat as we still get the same KO's but without risking to miss.

The team with those suggestions would look like this: https://pokepast.es/99e7f37121654bcb

I also made a second version with Garchomp>Heatran while keeping Rillaboom. I made Rillaboom SD as not running band or SD doesn't give it power enough. Here it is: https://pokepast.es/ea90051ea9c9d03a
wow, it's been a while since I went to forums. Thanks for your contribution! I still play a lot of gen 8 even with the new gen 9 coming out.
 

Slowpoke Fan

Slow?
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
Hello! This is an interesting HO team - I hope the following changes will allow you to enjoy playing the tier more :psyglad:.

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/e0cbf97e3d13d40c

Some of Latios' moves were changed - aura sphere is great coverage for its STABs while trick punishes more passive switch-ins. Hawlucha was changed to a bulky SD set with close combat to not risk its sweep being stopped by a miss. Blaziken uses protective pads to prevent contact effects since it already kills itself quick enough with flare blitz recoil (knock off is for item removal) while Tapu Koko uses a screens set to enable the sweepers you have.

As for Pokemon changes, I swapped Heatran and Rillaboom for Landorus-Therian and Celesteela: both provide crucial ground immunities and bring valuable hazard-setting/special sweeping to the team.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top