A basic guide to Team Building

[AromaFlora]

Nah, no to Swellow. It may be fast as hell, but it's fragile, lacks good resistances, has only decent-poor coverage, and outside of Facade and Brave Bird, it actually doesn't really do that much damage. All Swellow does is call Tyranitar (who still takes pitiful damage from U-turn), Metagross, Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Forretress (on the Facade), etc in and give them free set-up opportunities. Plus, they can all take a neutral hit and OHKO back in return.

I admit that Swellow, if switched in on something it threatens and is able to activate its Flame Orb, can devastate certain offensive teams given that their Choice Scarfer or priority user is out of question. Swellow can do great damage to slower offensive mons such as Latios, Virizion, Celebi, and Darmanitan, but it's also doing huge damage to itself in return due to burn, Brave Bird recoil, and whatnot. Vulnerability to Stealth Rock and sandstorm also does a number to this bird.

So, Swellow's cool, but not really in OU. If I had some kind of list for RU, Swellow would probably be there.

edit: note to self, add gastrodon.

[Regiultima]

Shouldn't the 4 Def EVs on Chandelure be 4 HP instead?

[AromaFlora]

Those 4 EVs don't really make a difference. I just like having my HP odd.

[lucario44444444]

Why the hell is gastrodon and Quagsire not on the treatlist, Oh yeah, Tentacruel too

[bob517]

Um I'm just confused about OUs Nus all that stiff any help r u a battle tutor if so please vm me

[Fabolous]

Great guide! This will help alot of younger players and new players as well.

[Bla7kCaT]

in the op where it says

Scizor @ Leftovers
Technician
Careful
248 HP / 48 Atk / 212 SpD
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Roost

scizor cant learn bug bite

[assassinsceptile]

in the op where it says



scizor cant learn bug bite

It can from HGSS

[Aquadon]

scizor cant learn bug bite

HG/SS Tutor. Seems a LOT of good moves come from the Tutors in IV Gen (and III Gen for that matter).

[AromaFlora]

lol damn school.

I should update this guide soon.

Thursday night, yes!

edit: btw, anyone who feels like helping out, feel free to do so! Just some general metagame updates. I'm pretty out of touch, but I can read trends and stuff.

edit: @lucario, Tenta's there lol. And yes, I've been meaning to put Gastro in but I can't find the motivation/time to do so. Quagsire nah. It is a good OU mon though... just not much people aren't using it.

[The Imposter]

I don't see Gallade anywhere on this list.

Gallade@Leftovers
Careful
240 HP/40 Atk/216 SpD/12 Spe
Bulk Up
Drain Punch
Stone Edge/Ice Punch
Shadow Sneak

With this set, Gallade becomes a powerful offensive and defensive threat if played correctly. Sets up Bulk Up on special attackers and Ferrothorn, then proceeds to sweep.

[lucario44444444]

Why isn't Gastrodon on the list?
He is a great bulky water, he is a great rain check. Defeats non-grass knot Thundurus. and he defeats a number of threats in OU.
If you guys are to lazy to write it up, I'll write it.

[cheeselord]

I love how everyone reads previous posts in such detail.

[AromaFlora]

I hate school so much.

I couldn't update Thursday night even when I said I would.

I'll attempt to devote time tomorrow since it is free...

Unless I get lazy.

Gallade is okay. Better than Electivire, that's for sure, but still pretty meh as it's a bit too physically weak after a Bulk Up still. It's slow, vulnerable to weather, can be statused by popular mons easily (making it even weaker), and doesn't have that much resistances (hmm let's see, Rock and Fighting... oh that's it). Compared to Scrafty, it's kinda "inferior" despite having more Attack and Speed (funny how Scrafty has barely more special bulk, thanks 65 HP!). Oh, and Shadow Sneak is still wimpy even after Bulk Up, just like Donphan's lol Ice Shard. Gallade is cool though, I admit, but I don't think he belongs in the list. I'm mostly just trying to follow Smogon's OU tier and put everything else in another post or something when I update again.

Also lucario, I answered the Gastrodon concern 2 posts above yours.

[lucario44444444]

Ok, heres the Haxorus crap I promised to write about

Haxorus @ Choice Band
Trait: Mold Breaker
Evs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 spe
Adamant Nature
-Outrage
-Dual Chop / Rock Slide / Dragon Claw
-Brick Break
-EQ
Haxorus was deemed overrated in the beginning of gen 5. However, the true power of Haxorus was released when this set was discovered. It has the ability to 2HKO Jirachi and Scizor with Outrage. Rivalry is also useable. But it is a little more risky as many people use female pokemon nowadays. Dual Chop is probably the best move as it allows Haxorus to maul Substitute users, although Dragon Claw and Rock Slide can be used for more reliability or more reliability. Haxorus has so much power that then things like Hippowdon cannot stop it. But Haxorus has troll speed. But that shouldn't make you not wanna use it. It has full potenial to be a top-tier threat.
Swords Dance is another great set. DD and Choice Scraf are useable, but not recommended

Scrafty @ Life Orb/ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie/ Shed Skin
Jolly Nature
-Dragon Dance
-Hi-Jump Kick/ Drain Punch
-Crunch
-Ice Punch/ Taunt
Scrafty is one of the most underrated sweepers in gen 5. With Jolly Dragon Dance, Scrafty outspeeds Thundurus and everything below. Including many deadly offensive pokemon like Latios and Terrakion. Between fighting and dark, Scrafty has perfect coverage against every pokemon except Toxicroak and Heracross, the latter not being used much in OU. Life Orb and HJK are preferred, but Leftovers and Drain Punch are acceptable as well if you don't want to risk the miss/ die of recoil damage. Taunt is best used with Moxie while Ice Punch is best used with Shed Skin to prevent Scrafty from being shut down by status. While Scrafty does have its problems, as strong fighting types/ pokemon with great defenses like Gyarados can defeat him. But with proper support, Scrafty is one dangerous pokemon to face. A Bulk Up set with Shed Skin, Leftovers, Careful, 252 Hp/ 252 SpD/ 4 Def, Rest, Drain Punch, Crunch/ Payback/ Dragon Tail is another deadly variation. One of the best stallbreakers due to its Rest+Shed Skin.

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
Calm Nature
252 Hp/ 252 SpD/ 4 SpA
-Scald
-Earth Power/ Ice Beam
-Toxic
-Recover
Gastrodon was completely outclassed by Swampert last generation. But it recieved a gift from heaven: a buff to Storm Drain. Now, Storm Drain not only absorbs water, but also raises Gastrodon's SpA by 1.5, making him into an acceptable offensive threat as well. With Toxic, Recover, and a shallow but useable offensive movepool, Gastrodon is arguably the best rain counter in existence. It hard counters Non GK Thundurus, Rotom-W, Starmie, Tornadus... the list goes on and on. Gastrodon has now not only overtaken Swampert as the best Water+Ground in the game, but Quagsire as well! If you haven't given Gastrodon a try, or are just simply pissed at all those rain teams, just get Gastrodon out there and wall Politoed and crew to kingdom come.

[AromaFlora]

Heh, good thing I can GP stuff. Thanks a lot lucario - added them in!

Also did some reorganizing and minor fixes (removed Garchomp, made a new post and put the other random stuff there, and some poor grammar fixes).

I should also continue to lurk Smogon's OU analyses and make EV/set adjustments soon.

[lucario44444444]

I believe that Excadrill's is outdatted.
Hit speelcheck, I sux et spellllingggg

Excadrill
Stats: 110 HP | 135 Atk | 60 Def | 50 SpA | 65 SpD | 88 Spe
Typing: Ground / Steel
Effective Set:
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset: Swords Dance / Earthquake / Rock Slide / Return or Rapid Spin or X-scisscor or Brick Break
Item: Air Balloon / Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Comments: Excadrill is a very good pokemon and has just the ability and moves it needs to succeed, supporting a monstorus 135 attack. And a decent 88 speed which gets DOUBLED it the sand. To prove how much power this thing packs, his attack hits a whooping 405 with an Adamant nature. Excadrill has swords dance to boost his amazing attack, and a great STAB Earthquake. Rock slide is great for hitting flying types such as Salamence or Dragonite, and, to top it of, Excadrill has a number of options. Return is the most popular because it hits key threats like Landorus, Rotom-W and Gliscor hard. However, Excadrill can run X-scissor for Bronzong, and it can destory things like Hydreigon too, Not to mention hitting a super effective on things like Reuniclus or Tyranitar is always nice. Excadrill can also be like Starmie and Rapid spin and be offensive. He also has brick break, which is not the best but is useful for hitting opposing Excadrills. Contary to popular belief, Life Orb is JUST as viable as Air balloon. Excadrill is great in many ways, but it also has its weaknesses, Still, if you are making a sand team, make sure to give him a try as he is the No.1 choice on a sand team!

[AromaFlora]

Excadrill doesn't seem outdated?

Better comments are better though lol I'll GP it later.

[Blue Harvest]

For Espeon you should change the base set to Dual Screen / Psychic / Rain Dance (Timid 252 speed / 252 hp) since that's pretty much the only thing Espeon is used for now a days.

On the defensive list Chansey might be worth mentioning with Softboiled / Wish or Heal Bell / Seismic Toss / Toxic. It has no chance of Wish passing in OU through Wish + Protect with sand everywhere and with a burn, sand or something eating its HP Wish+Protect is far less useful without Leftovers. Double healing Chansey is much more difficult to wear down than Wish + protect.

Maybe 96 Speed EVs on Jellicent so it can outrun Skarmory / defensive Politoed by a few points and Taunt them before they Spike or Toxic. Its not 100% needed but as far as I can tell that is the standard speed for them now (despite what the Smogon dex says).

Gastrodon is OU now so I guess it can be bumped up out of "other" defensive threats.

Otherwise everything looks great!

[Remorph]

I believe that Excadrill's is outdatted.
Hit speelcheck, I sux et spellllingggg

Excadrill
Stats: 110 HP | 135 Atk | 60 Def | 50 SpA | 65 SpD | 88 Spe
Typing: Ground / Steel
Effective Set:
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset: Swords Dance / Earthquake / Rock Slide / Return or Rapid Spin or X-scisscor or Brick Break
Item: Air Balloon / Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Comments: Excadrill is a very good pokemon and has just the ability and moves it needs to succeed, supporting a monstorus 135 attack. And a decent 88 speed which gets DOUBLED it the sand. To prove how much power this thing packs, his attack hits a whooping 405 with an Adamant nature. Excadrill has swords dance to boost his amazing attack, and a great STAB Earthquake. Rock slide is great for hitting flying types such as Salamence or Dragonite, and, to top it of, Excadrill has a number of options. Return is the most popular because it hits key threats like Landorus, Rotom-W and Gliscor hard. However, Excadrill can run X-scissor for Bronzong, and it can destory things like Hydreigon too, Not to mention hitting a super effective on things like Reuniclus or Tyranitar is always nice. Excadrill can also be like Starmie and Rapid spin and be offensive. He also has brick break, which is not the best but is useful for hitting opposing Excadrills. Contary to popular belief, Life Orb is JUST as viable as Air balloon. Excadrill is great in many ways, but it also has its weaknesses, Still, if you are making a sand team, make sure to give him a try as he is the No.1 choice on a sand team!

When using this, look out for TRers. They survive the hit, use TR, and kill Excadrill, and others.