OU Bulk on the Offensive

[KatamariLovesSpock]

Making the Cut.

Changes in this colour.

In the beginning of making this team I had one thing in mind... The rampancy of Steels in OU. What's the perfect solution? Magnezone! Though at the same time It is weak against another one of It's Steel type brethren Heatran...

But we need something to lure in those pesky Steels, Gengar. Nothing draws out Scizor like Gengar considering Bullet Punch easily takes care of this frail ghost.

But I'm still ignoring the fact that Magnezone does have some weaknesses... Ground being the worst of them, with Earthquake being one of the most common moves in all of OU. Gyarados can easily switch into anything that would be aimed at Magnezone and lay down the hurt as well.

Magnezone is also somewhat frail to those pesky fire attacks, Heatran counters that beautifully. Not only can it kill those pesky Fire type attackers it can kill other Heatran quite effectively with proper prediction.

Heatran's most common counter being those pesky bulky water's Celebi makes a great addition to the team. Also helping out Heatran by drawing out those pesky Fire type attacks allowing Heatran to come in for the kill, in sort this combo is hard pressed to be beaten.

Now I need a proper lead... What could possibly fill that roll...? I need something fast and hard hitting that can set up Stealth Rocks, but without a horrible weakness to Earthquake to make this team fall apart. But it also needs some relative bulk... The answer is Gliscor!

With enough speed and bulk to atleast set up Stealth Rock and maybe lay out some damage, what's not to like about Gliscor?

Now for the Sets.
The Lead.

Gliscor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Veil
164 HP/ 88 Atk/ 40 Def/ 216 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt
-U-Turn
-Earthquake

Bulky enough to take a few hits and fast enough to make the opponent think twice, what is there to dislike about this bulky bat? Lum Berry to ensure that It's can set up even with the like of those pesky Roserade. U-Turn lets it get out of the heat while still laying down some damage as well, hitting Azelf fairly hard makes it worth it in my book too.

The Sweeper.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
156 HP/ 72 Atk/ 96 Def/ 184 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Dragon Dance
-Taunt
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge

While an offensive Gya is all fine and dandy I wanted a Gyarados that could switch in and set up even in less than optimal conditions. Not only can it set up on the likes of Scizor and Heatran it can also take down the likes of Celebi and Skarmory through the use of Taunt. This guy isn't going down without a fight.

The Steel Killer.

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
4 Atk/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power (Fire)
-Flash Cannon
-Explosion

With the Choice Scarf Magnezone can outpace many of the threats that it normally wouldn't be able to even look in the eye, such as Lucario and Scizor. The Hidden Power is fairly self explanatory as Magnezone is set up to kill those pesky Steels. The EV's are straight-foward as well, set up to either to outpace or explode on if necessary.

Jailbait.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
4 Def/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Protect or Substitute
-Hidden Power (Fire) or Pain Split
-Focus Blast
-Shadow Ball

The MysticGar/Magnezone combo makes Scizor It's bitch, end of story. Other than that It has some ability as a special sweeper, but I tend to save it for a Scizor scenario due to It's paper thin defenses.

The Flamer.

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
4 Atk/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Explosion
-Hidden Power (Electric)

Set up in an identical fashion to Magnezone It's meant to take out pesky fire types and unsuspecting waters. Considering most Gyarados will try to set up on Heatran HP (Electric) will be a massive shock to their system or if nothing else it allows Celebi to switch in for the status and make them switch out.

The Staller

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
252 HP/ 220 Def/ 36 Spe
Nature: Bold
-Thunder Wave
-Grass Knot
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Recover

Basically set up to switch in on bulky water's and cut them down to size. It also helps draw out fire types to let Heatran get some momentum on his side. Sadly, Celebi is my resident Dragon killer at the moment as well, which can cause problems due to overlapping roles, in most situations I can only hope I outspeed them due to the fact that they are just switching in.




​

 

[McLuvdisc]

Hey, nice team. If you really want to take care of Scizor though, I'd recommend using this set from the Smogon StrategyDex. It's called MYSTICGar:

Item: Life Orb
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Defense, 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed
Moves: Protect, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Hidden Power Fire

The strategy is to switch it into something that is scared of Gengar, and attack on their switch. I would use Focus Blast first to KO any incoming Tyranitar. Anyway, when Scizor switches in, you use Protect first to see what move he uses (since odds are it'll be the Choice Band variety). If its Bullet Punch, you switch out to Magnezone. If it's Pursuit, you stay in and roast him with Hidden Power Fire. If your strategy is just switching out to Magnezone, you risk having your Gengar KOd by Pursuit on the way out, or having your Magnezone hit by a Superpower on the way in.

Alternatively, you could just ditch Magnezone and Gengar alltogether. Your Dragon Dance Gyarados can already set up on Scizor's Bullet Punches as it is, especially since he's the Bulky kind. In fact, none of your Pokemon except Celebi and Gengar fear Scizor that much, so it seems strange to me that you used two slots just to counter him. You mentioned that your Magnezone is good at eliminating Lucario, but what's the point of that when Gliscor is already one of the best Lucario counters out there?

If you're going to use Gengar and Magnezone, you should use a different setup sweeper who appreciates Scizor being eliminated. Dragon Dance Salamence would probably be a good fit. Here's a well-known team that uses this kind of strategy to great effect:

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61060

 

[Delko]

Quick suggestion though,

You could use Salamence instead of Gyarados. Mence also lures Scizor into using Bullet Punch so Magnezone could switchin for free. If you lure Scizor into Bullet Punch (or even Jirachi into Iron Head) you should take your chances of setting up with Magnezone. Therefor I suggest you use a Substitute Magnezone. You can set up your Substitute on Scizor, finish him of and still be able to hit your opponent's next switch-in.

Magnezone @ leftovers/ naive/ magnet pull
40 Atk, 252 SpA, 216 Spe

- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power (grass)/ (ice)
- Explosion

Hope this helped and good luck with the team!

EDIT: @ above poster. He want to lure Scizor into using Bullet Punch so he can get a safe switch into Magnezone. With MysticGar, Scizor might as well be using Pursuit, or even worse, set up a Sword Dance and sweep from there. Therefor, Substitute is indeed better.

 

[george182]

I see the stratergy lure out the OU steels so then someone can take advanatage and sweep. eh? where is the pokemon to take advantage, why would you lure and remove the steels types for no reason, I don't see the point? you are currently removing steels for no reason, magnezone, heatran, gliscor, celebi, and gyrados can destroy steel types, and then gengar can beat most with Hp fire. That is just a pointless stratergy, like using rain dance without anyone gaining any benefit from the move rain dance.

Therefore, pokemon such as tyranitar, salamence, flygon, dragonite and UU's like belly drum linoone, swellow etc. should be used to take advanatage of the absence of steels.

Secndly, gliscor does not seem the most effective lead for you team and just seem dumped there cus he is a good lead. By making scarf heatran the lead, SR and then run away, faking the shucca probably or SR before taunters.

Then you have a free space for one of the previosuly mentioned sweepers.

 

[Nosferalto]

Magnezone is useless on this team to be honest. Scizor is not a problem at all as your team posseses some of the best Scizor counters: Heatran, Bulky Gyarados and Gliscor. Other than checking Scizor, Magezone does nothing else but revenge kill threats but you already have Choice Scarf on Heatran. DD Salamence is a huge threats to this team as it can set-up on Magnezone and Heatran locked onto a certain resisted move. After a DD, there is nothing that can take it down; MixMence troubles this team as well. I can see Special attackers such as Latias and Gengar causing issues as well. As I already said, Magezone is the most replaceable member of the team, so I believe a Choice Band Scizor will fir this team quite well since it fixes your crazy Salamence weakness by revenge killing it after Stealth Rock damage and a turn of Life Orb. Latias and Gengar are also kept at bay thanks to Pursuit + Bullet Punch. CB Scizor will also improve your team's offensive capabilities thanks to it's hard hitting capabilities and it's ability to build momentum with STAB U-Turn and responding accordingly. Anyway, here's the Scizor set:

Scizor @ Choice Band | Technician
Adamant | 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe or SpDef
Bullet Punch | Superpower | U-Turn | Pursuit

On Celebi, HP Ice has very limited use, it's only useful against Salamence and Gliscor. Salamence out-speeds with and without a DD anyway and Gliscor can be taken care of by Gyarados. I would reccomend using HP Fire, as Celebi lures in Scizor, so you can dispose of it in one hit as it attempts to Pursuit / U-Turn.

The one that should have HP Ice is Heatran as it is able to outspace base 100s and most importantly MixMence to revenge kill. Celebi is one of the best DD Gyarados counters (barring Bounce versions), so HP Electric won't be used that much.

As for Gliscor, just max out Speed to ensure that you outspeed opposing Gliscors. This is particularly important as it allows you to Taunt the foe's Gliscor first and prevent it from settinh up Stealth Rock.

Edit: I support the Substitute + Pain Split on Gengar as well.

 

[jc104]

I would suggest changing Gliscor's spread to 252hp 4 def 252spe (or 252hp 40def 216 spe depending on your preferences.)

Defensively, Gliscor should always be looking to maximise its mediocre HP stat before turning to its very good base defence. The idea behind the attack EVs is not a good one; though they do get you that guaranteed 2HKO on Metagross, you should be looking to Taunt and then SR in the face of Metagross rather than risking it getting up SR. Max speed is recommended due to other Gliscor - as Nosferalto says, losing a speed battle against another Gliscor is a total loss. It is also notable that your Gliscor lacks any form of recovery, which it will need if it is to be useful later in tha match. Since you can Taunt Roserade leads, you do not need a Lum berry, though you must remember you rusk bein OHKOed by Hp Ice by staying in anyway. Go for lefties at the very least.


As mentioned by Delko, you should run Sub on Gengar. Though your health will deplete fairly fast, it has the major advantage of being useful outside of Scizor, helping to kill ScarfTar, and generally easing prediction and protecting from status. Most Scizor will run now after seeing protect on Gengar; MYSTIC Gar no longer has the surprise value it once carried. On top of this, you can never rule out that its an SD Scizor, or even a Scarf Scizor, which would really wreck the protect plan.

Good luck