First draft of Competitive team

[dwar44]

Hola all, I am new to competitive pokemon battling and wanted some feedback on my team. Any and all criticism will be appreciated

1. Swampert @ leftovers (Bob)
Trait: Torrent
EV's: 128 Atk / 252 Def / 128 Sp def
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -Speed)
-Stealth rocks
-Scald
-Earthquake
-Ice punch

Lead poke, Gains boost from common rain teams while also having sandstorm immunity. Sets up stealth rocks, Scald>over waterfall for added bulk from burn. Then EQ for obvious reasons and ice punch for my hatred of dragons

2. Arcanine @ Leftovers (Scruffy)
Trait: Intimidate
EV's: 128 Hp / 255 Atk / 128 Speed
Nature: Adamant (+Atk,-Sp Atk)
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Close Combat
-Morning Sun

Flare Blitz is main Stab move, Wild Charge for strong hit on water types, Close Combat>outrage for rock coverage. Morning sun + leftovers to counter Recoil and giving Arcanine more bulk compared to Infernape

3.Hydreigon @ Choice Specs (Ghidorah)
Trait: Levitate
EV's: 4Hp/ 252 Spec Atk/ 252spd
Nature: Modest (+Sp Atk, - Atk)
-Draco meteor
-Dark pulse
-Focus blast
-Flamethrower

Special power house. Draco meteor is insane: dark pulse is stab and one of my few reliable psychic/ghost counters. Focus blast and flamethrower for coverage. Chose him over Thundurus-T as choice user for immunity to spikes and neutrality towards rocks

4. Thundurus-T @ life orb (Ahkbar)
trait: Volt Absorb
EV's 4Hp/ 252 Spec atk/ 252 Speed
Nature: Modest (+Sp atk, -Atk)
-Agility
-Thunderbolt
-HP ice
-Grass knot

The clean-up crew, Save him for late game. Boost his speed and watch him go to work. Thunderbolt is stab, HP ice for Gliscor and dragons, Grass knot for bulkier grounds and water/ground types. Though he is frail, I mainly switch him in on Wall pokemon to avoid too much incoming damage(or the obvious electric attack for free heal)

5. Gallade @ Life orb (Lancelot)
Trait: Justified
EV's: 252 HP/ 68 Atk/ 188 speed
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp Atk)
-Bulk-up
-Drain punch
-Stone edge
-Night slash

Bit of an odd ball i decided to add off type alone. Bulk-up helps his poor defense and raises his already high attack power. Drain punch Gives stab+recovery making for more opportunities to Bulk-up. Stone edge for the birds and Night slash for the ghosts

6. Skarmory @ Shed shell (Mischievous)
Trait: Sturdy
Ev's: 252 HP/ 232 Sp Def/ 24 Speed
Nature: Impish (+Def, - Sp Atk)
-Spikes
-Whirwind
-Roost
-Brave bird

The Hazardous Hazer. This guys job is to take Hits, set up spikes with leads stealth rocks and whirlwind till the opponent's soul has been sufficiently crushed

[loco1234]

This team is OU I'm guessing? If that's the case then Gastrodon over Swampert

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
Sassy Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover

Pretty standard wall set here. You liked EQ and Scald on Swampert, so I stuck both on Gastrodon. Toxic for status damage, which is always great. Recover should be pretty self-explanatory, healing off damage alongside Leftovers. Storm Drain gives you a Water immunity (yes, IMMUNITY) and +1 SpA if you take a Water move. You can opt to run Earth Power over Earthquake to capitalize more on that, and if you choose to do so you could run Calm over Sassy, as the Atk drop would be meaningless then.


Arcanine is another UU Pokemon with a better replacement in OU - Infernape. Infernape can run a very dangerous mixed attacking set, or you can go purely one way or the other. I'll give a mixed set here, as it is my favorite by far:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
Naive Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- U-Turn
- Mach Punch

This is the set I prefer with Infernape, although you can run Grass Knot and Stone Edge (among many others - Infernape has 4-move syndrome BAD). Overheat is your Special attack, and it's really a one-off thing. This is the reason for using Iron Fist - Blaze will rarely trigger. Iron Fist affects both Close Combat and Mach Punch, although it doesn't boost them much it does so all the time and capitalizes on the more dangerous Physical aspect of the set. Close Combat is your main STAB move, and the move you'll use most of the time. I really like U-Turn - it gives you a bit of damage and the always-useful switch advantage if they bring in a counter on the same turn. Mach Punch is for priority, which can be amazingly useful for revenge killing.


On Hydreigon, Fire Blast over Flamethrower. The extra power is very noticeable and 85% accuracy is perfectly fine. You could also change Focus Miss to Surf if the accuracy becomes an issue, especially as Fire Blast deals with Ice and Steel Pokemon that would be handled by it.


Thundurus looks solid, although I'm not familiar with it at all.


Gallade is not great in OU. I'd replace it too. If you want another physical attacker, you might try something like Breloom.

Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
Adamant Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Substitute

Another set I like a lot, although I usually use Ferrothorn as my Grass-type. I haven't even gotten around to trying Amoonguss, I use Ferro so much. Anyway, Spore is obvious awesome 100% Sleep. Mach Punch gets a Technician boost and priority, which combines to be really nice. Bullet Seed also gets a Technician boost, and can be potentially devastating. It's unreliable as you may hit only twice, but it's still your main attack. I like Sub even on this set for a few reasons. First, it protects you from Burns since you don't have a Toxic Orb to do that. Second, it takes hits for you, which is always nice. The main reason here is to block statuses that ruin your fun though.


Finally, Skarmory seems good but I'd go for Leftovers over Shed Shell since trappers are pretty rare (for me anyway, I never see them. Thankfully. I'm using Mono-Steel at the moment, Magnezone murders it xD).

[dwar44]

Yes it is OU sorry i should of clarified. and thanks for your input, I particularly like the Changes To Gallade and Surf/fireblast on Hydreigon, Having grass/fighter will let me give focus blast to Thundurus-T and replace grass-knot. My unnatural affection for Arcanine/Swampert will forever keep my team down it seems

[loco1234]

Arcanine and Swampert are OK, but in OU they have better alternatives. They work fairly well in UU though.

[azeem40]

Unless you are an advanced player, it is best to stick with OU Pokemon in OU. That is why I only use OU. :P