SM OU Making Cloyster Great Again

As someone who hadn't previously spent much time battling since the XY days, familiarizing myself with the new meta was a learning experience. Since USUM were coming out I expected they would cause the metagame to undergo a significant shift, so if there was ever a time to get back into the swing of things it was now. I've been playing since the days following the game's release, and after bouncing through ~10 teams in the span of a week, I've found one that isn't too terrible and have enjoyed using. Unfortunately, the team I've take a liking to isn't particularly good and was hoping for suggestions to make it better:


Cloyster
Adamant Nature-White Herb
Skill Link
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Spd
-Shell Smash
-Liquidation
-Rock Blast
-Icicle Spear

As the name suggests, the team is built around Cloyster. Cloyster has fallen off significantly from its time in OU back in 5th Gen, but it can still serve as an effective late game cleaner if played correctly. With USUM's move tutors, Cloyster received a new toy to play with in Liquidation, replacing Razor Shell as its primary Water STAB. The rest of the set is relatively standard, with Shell Smash to set up and prepare to mop up weakened foes in the endgame, and Rock Blast and Icicle Spear to abuse Skill Link and provide coverage and secondary STAB respectively.


Thundurus-Incarnate
Hasty Nature-Lum Berry
Defiant
252 Atk/4 Spa/252 Spe
-Wild Charge
-Superpower
-U-Turn
-HP Ice/Knock Off

While hazard play is an essential part of effectively utilizing Cloyster, my current hazard setter/remover came much later in the team building process for reasons that will make sense later. For now, we'll address the second member of the team. While most teams don't carry much in the way of actively deterring Defog, Thundurus is able to do just that. With base 110 Attack and powerful moves like STAB Wild Charge and Superpower, physical Thundurus is able to hit unsuspecting special walls like a truck before any sort of boost. With Defog and Intimidate being commonplace throughout OU, Thundurus gets plenty of opportunities to receive Attack boosts and further enhance its power. Life Orb was the original item on the set, but I've found a Lum Berry more useful to protect against random Will-o-Wisp's. As for the moves, Wild Charge serves as the primary (and only) STAB attack. Superpower can hit unsuspecting Tyranitar's and Ferrothorn's coming in to take an Electric type attack. U-Turn can also be used on switch-ins to gain momentum, while HP Ice and and Knock Off both have merits. I initially ran Knock Off for the utility of removing items, but between issues with Lando and wanting to click U-Turn on most predicted switches anyway, HP Ice is now the final move.


Tapu Lele
Modest Nature-Farium-Z
Psychic Surge
252 Spa/4 Spd/252 Spe
-Psyshock
-Moonblast
-HP Fire
-Taunt

After starting off with two dedicated physical attackers, a special attacker was a must for this team. Tapu Lele was chosen for its monstrously strong Psyshock's with terrain up, spammable Fairy attacks, and most importantly, Psychic Terrain's priority protection. Cloyster's natural physical bulk is normally enough to take weak priority attacks, but in situations towards the end of the game where it's taken damage, Cloyster can easily be picked off by Mega Scizor's BP, Bisharp's Sucker Punch, Mega Pinsir's QA, and more.
Aside from that, terrain-boosted Psyshock is stupidly powerful, and switches into immunity's and resist's can be easily predicted. Farium-Z is used to muscle past random bulky 'mons like T-Tar, Clefable, and Tapu Fini, and just nuke random things that other team members would normally beat but can't due to extenuating circumstances. HP Fire helps against Steel types like Ferrothorn and weakened Magearna. Taunt is used due to having nothing else on the team capable of effectively running it, and seeing more benefit in stopping the occasional SR or status from bulky Heatran, Chansey, etc.


Kyurem-Black
Rash Nature-Choice Scarf
Teravolt
64 Atk/252 Spa/192 Spe
-Ice Beam
-Fusion Bolt
-Earth Power
-Outrage

When this team was originally built Kyurem was the final member of the team, but it still serves the same purpose now as it did initially. With monstrous 170/120 attacking stats, Kyurem-B has always been one of the hardest hitting mixed attackers in OU. While the team is built to support Cloyster, Kyurem-B shares flaws with Cloyster that offer Kyurem a dual role within the team both as a generic scarfer, as well as a late game cleaner if the situation calls for it. Rash nature and max Spa investment is chosen to strengthen Kyurem-B's two most used moved as much as possible, with Ice Beam serving as spammable STAB and Earth Power for things like Bisharp, Heatran, and Mega Mawile. 192 Speed EV's are used to outspeed notable threats such as Ash-Greninja, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Manectric and OHKO them with the appropriate move, while the rest of the EV's are dumped into attack to give Fusion Bolt and Outrage a little more juice.

WARNING: This is where team kind of flies off the rails, as these last two 'mons weren't originally part of the team and were placed on the team after battling for hours and attempting to correct some flaws and fill very specific roles. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.


Araquanid
Calm Nature-Leftovers
Water Bubble
248 HP/252 Spd/8 Spe
-Sticky Web
-Toxic
-Infestation
-Protect

This was originally a Specially Defensive Toxapex, but after feeling underwhelmed with it for a long time and wanting to incorporate Sticky Web onto the team, Araquanid was my choice. I felt Sticky Web was necessary due seeing plenty of scarfers and generally fast 'mons coming and ending my fun, with scarfed Blacephalon, +1 Naganadel, and various other scarfers coming in and taking out Cloyster and Kyurem-B when I lack any viable switch-ins. Toxic Trapping is a useful strategy that can catch bulky, passive Poke's such as Chansey, defensive Mew, and various other things off guard and neutralize them for the remainder of the match. Araquanid lacks the persistence to switch in and out that Toxapex provided, but I've found its Sticky Web and the pressure it places on opponents to deal with it or get rid of it and deal with a +2 Thundurus more useful than anything Toxapex ever offered.


Sandslash
Impish Nature-Leftovers
Sand Rush
252 HP/252 Def/4 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Rapid Spin
-Earthquake
-Knock Off

This was originally a Tanky Landorus-T, but after incorporating Sticky Web onto the team, I decided that Rapid Spin would be superior to Defog, but I needed something very specific. Lando's replacement needed to be a physically bulky spinner that could also set up SR and provide something somewhat resembling offensive presence. At that point, my only options appeared to be Donphan and Sandslash, so Sandslash it was. This is the Pokemon that needs the most work, but the point of it is to spin my opponents hazards away, Knock Off to "punish" Ghosts attempting to block RS and provide utility, and set up its own SR. Sand Rush is more useful than you would think, as the prevalence of Tyranitar gives Sandslash plenty of opportunities to switch in and absorb physical attacks, so its job, and land a hit or two it normally wouldn't be able to due to its lackluster speed.

THREATS:

Magearna:
As special walls go, Araquanid is pretty lackluster. Magearna is able to switch into anything on this team with the exception of boosted Cloyster, set up a Shift Gear, and clean out this team after repeated Soul-Heart boosts.

Ferrothorn: With the only Fire type move on the entire team coming from a Pokemon that gets OHKO'd be Gyro Ball and having no other special SE moves to hit it with, Ferrothorn, specifically physically defensive variants, give this team trouble. I've attempted incorporating some sort of Fire or special Fighting type move in, but I can't seem to find a spot.

Stakataka: I think there's a theme going on here, as Steel types give this team plenty of trouble. When Trick Room isn't up, Kyurem-B is able to come in and threaten Stakataka with Earth Power and either scare it out or OHKO it. However, no good player will switch Stakataka into something with no chance of setting up TR, so getting Kyurem-B in safely is a major challenge. Other than Sandslash, (lol) nothing on the team can safely switch into Stakataka.

Naganadel: This thing is probably going soon anyway, but the lack of Specially Defensive Heatran and/or Tyranitar means Naganadel can cause problems if it gains +1 speed without Sticky Web or Kyurem is gone.


As of right now, the most pressing issue is finding a better spinner than Sandslash, with finding a way to consistently beat Steel types another major issue. Any help would be appreciated.
 

DKM

Are you feeling nervous? Are you having fun?
is a Social Media Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
Ok, some things I think should change are the sets/pokemon you control hazards with.



752.png
Araquanid @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Magic Coat
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Toxic

Using a sash offensive set on Araquanid means you always get webs up. Magic coat is to bounce back taunt and/or rocks from opposing leads (Koko, Shuckle, Smeargle etc.)




028.png --> 530.png
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

Focus sash Excadrill guarantees early hazards/hazard control, which I think is needed on a webs team. You might lose a switchin to certain physical attackers, but getting up rocks + webs straight away means that you're other four can instantly start putting pressure on the opposing team.



So I basically changed it from a slightly bulkier-offense team to hyper offense, but webs is generally more effective like that. So I hope you like the ideas :]


 

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

Top