My Team So Far (an OU RMT)

[Chomz]

This is the first team I've made in a while, and after going through a few changes, is probably my most successful attempt so far. Admittedly, I put it together with minimal thought process or intention, simply pulling together a bunch of Pokemon that I thought looked strong individually. The end result? A team that has actually functioned quite decently, once putting me on a 8-match winning streak and letting me climb the ratings rather quickly, to my surprise.

The idea behind my team is that every single one of its members should be able to leave a mark in the form of damage before itself going down. As such, I've found that each Pokemon has had its fair share of glory and late game sweeps. However, it have also realized that some threats are perfectly capable of running through my team, so I would like advice on countering them.

Without further ado, my team:

Moltres @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP

U-turn
Will-o-Wisp
Overheat
Air Slash

The standard anti-lead set taken straight from the website, and it has served me very well so far. It allows me to force many switches early game, and practice has roughly taught me how to tell if the opponent's gonna switch or not (most of the time they do). If I predict a switch, I simply U-turn out. If not, Overheat hits whatever stays in like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately, I find Will-o-Wisp rather useless on this set, since opposing lead Machamps (Air Slash can't OHKO) and Tyranitars, my two biggest threats, mostly carry Lum Berries. Any advice on what to use instead?

If Moltres U-turns out or somehow survives, I often bring it back as a one-use explosive in the late-game, firing off an Overheat to severely weaken an opposing sweeper.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Sp. Defense

Stealth Rock
Hydro Pump
Earthquake
Ice Beam

My entry hazard set-upper, and a very reliable one at that. Not much to say here: it switches in on a weak incoming physical attack then proceeds to set-up. That done, it then either switches out, or stays in to cause as much havoc as possible. Also a great check to most physical threats, Tyranitar included.

Scizor @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 224 Speed / 32 HP

Bullet Punch
Swords Dance
U-turn
Pursuit

Your standard Swords Dancing Scizor Set, really. Great for revenge-kills, but aren't all Scizor variants? I tend to bring out this guy pretty early, hoping to take advantage of a momentary lull in the opponent's defense. If I manage to get in a Swords Dance, BP deals pretty hefty damage to even the sturdiest of Scizor counters. I'm thinking of replacing Pursuit, since I pretty much use in solely to kill Rotoms that get smart and predict a switch on my part.

Latias @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP

Surf
Draco Meteor
Thunderbolt
Recover

Undoubtedly the closest my team has to an MVP. If I manage to hide Latias long enough and destroy her counters before bringing her out, she is surprisingly good at wrapping up a match. Surf offers good neutral coverage, Draco Meteor hits almost everything insanely hard, and Thunderbolt lets her serve as a reliable Empoleon/Gyarados counter. Empoleon can't OHKO with an unboosted Ice Beam and is OHKOed, while Latias is (I'm not sure how myself) able to outspeed and OHKO certain Gyarados even after a single DD.

The main problem I get when using Latias is Draco Meteor forcing me to switch, and Surf and Thunderbolt being dubious methods to counter Steels like Metagross. Other than that, Latias is a wonderfully reliable member of the team.

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 208 Speed / 48 Sp. Atk

Pursuit
Flamethrower
Crunch
Superpower

The Bait TTar, which I ripped off from somewhere in the site. :P I misplay this guy so often that it's almost a crime, but when I manage to predict right, he truly becomes a real beast, taking out one or two opposing Pokemon with little or no effort at all.

The means to using this set are quite standard: fake a Choice Band, then a) catch the inevitable Scizor / Breloom switch-in with a Flamethrower to the face, or b) Roast them after the predict a switch on my part. The EVs and nature let me outspeed Adamant Scizors in case they decide to whack me with U-turn.

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Naive
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP

Flamethrower
Explosion
HP Ice
Earth Power

Rounding out my team is the king of revenge killers: ScarfTran. Not much to say here, 'cept that it KOs most threats such as Salamence and Metagross should they decide to stay in. This guy also forms the other half of my Latias-Heatran synergy. Explosion is my last-ditch attempt to redeem a match, and has saved me several times from, say, a Suicune with too many CMs under his belt.

Well, that's basically it! Please feel free to voice your opinions; C & C would be much appreciated.

 

[Chomz]

I won't make a comprehensive threat list here, but I will note down a few Pokemon that cause me a lot of grief:

1. Zapdos. Seriously, I hate this guy. He effortlessly outstalls every single Pokemon on my team, and even the "number one" Zapdos counter, Tyranitar, lacks Stone Edge to counter it. Heatran's Expolsion provides a sort-of solution, but not one that I want to rely on too often.

2. Machamp. Lead Machamps cause me a lot of problems, especially if they manage to get a Substitute up. For there, it can DynamicPunch / Payback / Stone Edge basically my entire team to death.

3. Suicine. Only one of my Pokemon carries a super-effective move (Latias' Thunderbolt), and even then it can't do much after a single CM.

4. Electivire. If the opponent manages to get Swampert out of the way, the rest of my team is basically dead meat. Catching a stray Thunderbolt from Latias (which happened once) makes things much, much worse.

 

[WoOoShoOo!!]

I won't make a comprehensive threat list here, but I will note down a few Pokemon that cause me a lot of grief:

1. Zapdos. Seriously, I hate this guy. He effortlessly outstalls every single Pokemon on my team, and even the "number one" Zapdos counter, Tyranitar, lacks Stone Edge to counter it. Heatran's Expolsion provides a sort-of solution, but not one that I want to rely on too often.

2. Machamp. Lead Machamps cause me a lot of problems, especially if they manage to get a Substitute up. For there, it can DynamicPunch / Payback / Stone Edge basically my entire team to death.

3. Suicine. Only one of my Pokemon carries a super-effective move (Latias' Thunderbolt), and even then it can't do much after a single CM.

4. Electivire. If the opponent manages to get Swampert out of the way, the rest of my team is basically dead meat. Catching a stray Thunderbolt from Latias (which happened once) makes things much, much worse.

Zapdos - You can 2HKO Zapdos with HP Ice.

Machamp - Yeah, that could cause problems for your team only if it has Substitute, but without it you can just burn it.

Suicune - Without Latias, Crocune somehow owns your team. And Rotom-W can help your team on Suicune(somehow), the SubCharge one...

Electivire - MixVire handles your team nicely(without Latias). Cross chop for both Tyranitar and Heatran, HP[Grass] for Swampert, Flamethrower for Scizor and Thunderbolt for Moltres.

Overall good team..

 

[Chomz]

Machamp - Yeah, that could cause problems for your team only if it has Substitute, but without it you can just burn it.

Lead Machamps ALWAYS carry Lum Berries. If I try to burn them with Moltres, they happily set up a substitute, then proceed to Stone Edge my Moltres and rampage through everything else.

 

[Snorlaxe]

Hey, cool team, but there are a few changes I would suggest. First off, I think that you should change Moltres to a Flygon. Moltres is a good antilead and a very powerful attacker, but the fact that he takes 50% from Stealth Rock switching in is simply unacceptable. To put it simply, it means that you will be switching in a bare maximum of 3 times. However, there is also the possibility of Moltres taking another attack when it switches in, drastically lowering its survivability. I suggest you use a standard ScarfGon spread of 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe and an Adamant nature; then, a set of Earthquake, Outrage, U-turn, and Fire Punch with a Choice Scarf attatched. Scarf Flygon is a surprisingly effective lead, putting you at an early advantage in the match against many common leads such as Metagross, Azelf, and Heatran.

I'm not really a huge fan of Scizor's current spread; he seems like he would die too early on in a match due to Life Orb and his rather lacking defenses. I suggest going with a bulky Swords Dance Scizor spread instead. Try a spread of 200 Hp / 252 Atk / 56 SpD, and an Adamant nature. Then, change U-turn to Bug Bite and Pursuit to Roost. This Scizor is a very strong defender, capable of holding his own against many powerful attackers such as Life Orb Starmie and SpecsJolteon; nothing they have can even come close to KOing Scizor, where he can OHKO back with Bug Bite. Roost is an excellent move as it can really help increase Scizor's survivability; use Leftovers as your item to increase it even more.

Everything else looks pretty good, I'm a huge fan of Haunter's Bait-Tar set (yeah that's where you got it from by the way xD). Hope I helped your team, and good luck! =)

 

[pokemon]

Your scizor doesn't need 224 speed evs. Its not fast enought to outrun almost anything so those evs are basically useless. You should put them in Hp. Do the ev spread Snorlaxe recommended.

Also on Tyranitar you should put a little bit more evs into SpeA for flamethrower because Tyranitar already has a massive attack stat. Also for your suicune problem you can use a Sub-Charge Rotom-H. It can just keep charge beaming away for those SpeA boosts.

Also if a gyarados were to set up 2-3 DD's on Heatran or Swampert or Tyranitar its GG. Also Rotom-H can also keep machamp in check, and can also just keep spamming shadow balls at electivire. Also heatran outspeeds electivire with choice scarfed earth power for OHKO.

Also Zapdos isnt a big threat considering you 2HKO with HP ice as WoOoShoO0!! said. You can wall it with Swampert if it doesn't carry HP grass or if it carries HP ice you can wall it with Heatran and just spam flamthrowers.

Nice team though.

 

[Chomz]

Sorry to trouble you guys, but my Shoddy Battle Team Builder doesn't give me the option of teaching Scizor Bug Bite. Also, why use Bug Bite when X-Scissor has a higher base power?

 

[haunter]

Because bug bite has 90 base power with the technician boost, opposed to x-scissor's 80.

 

[WoOoShoOo!!]

You can use Rotom-H. Switch 'em to pokemon's that are locked in a single attacked(Choiced obviously) like using Tyranitar so that Heatran would use Earth power then switch in Rotom-H and Set up your Sub then, Charge beam!!.. NOTE: Shadow ball 2HKO's Machamp after 2 boosts.