My first RMT Here

[EonDragonFTW]

Ever since I started battling competitively last August I've learned a lot about the competitive metagame, and I've found myself a team that I like to use but it still has some problems.

And now, the Pokemon.....

Espeon
Ability: Magic Bounce
Item: Light Clay
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Spd, 252 hp, 252 Def
Moves:
Reflect
Light Screen
Baton Pass
Calm Mind

My dual screener, Espeon. Its DW ability magic bounce is truly a sight to behold and I can use it to bounce back hazards, status, whatever. Mostly I use him to lead with double screens, and when that’s done, set up with calm mind and punch holes with Psychic.Light Clay is there to really extend the screens' duration, and that helps reduce the amount of times I need to set them up. Eventually I’ll have to switch out to a more favorable matchup, but the added bulk Espeon give to the rest of my team really lets them take hits as they rip enemies to shreds. Sometimes, I can predict an incoming status move on one of my sweepers, hoping to cripple them, and I can switch to Espeon and bounce it back.

Gallade
Ability: Justified
Item: Choice Scarf
EVs: 252 Atk; 252 Spe; 4 HP
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
Leaf Blade
Psycho Cut
Close Combat
Night Slash

With Choice Scarf, Gallade can actually outspeed many threats in OU and OHKO them before they can hit it. Gallade is very strong and has a lot of coverage with this moveset, but is very frail. I mainly use him to pick off weakened threats and as a late game cleaner. Leaf Blade is to ruin Bulky Waters and bulky ground/rock types in general, like Swampert, Terrakion, or Tyranitar. Psycho Cut is a strong source of STAB, along with Close Combat, and they both give good coverage. Night Slash is used for high crit rate and for taking on other Psychics. If I can pull it off, I can swith from Espeon/Latios and get a Justified boost.

Metagross
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Speed
Moves:
Agility (This is the move I hardly need to use and is most viable to replace)
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Thunderpunch

Metagross is a freaking tank, even w/o defensive EVs. I can take a hit, set up Agility, and outspeed and OHKO faster threats with STAB Meteor Mash or Earthquake. Thunderpunch is there for mainly Tornadus, but also counters flying and bulky waters and lets me not be completely useless against Skarmory. But most of the time, I’m faster without an Agility, so that’s wasting a moveslot. E-quake can let it OHKO defensive, non-ballooned Heatran and other steels. Most of the time, I can get Hax with Thunderpunch paralysis and Meteor Mash's attack boost, which lets it deal more damage. Leftovers is to boost its survivability.

Scizor
Ability: Technician

Nature: Adamant
Item: Leftovers
Evs: 252 HP, 40 Atk, 216 Sp. Def
Moves:
Swords Dance
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite
Roost

This is the Bulky swords dance set from smogon. It works out very well with dual screen support, as I can get multiple Swords Dance boosts without worrying thanks to the EV spread, Roost off the damage, and sweep. Bullet Punch gives the team priority and is powered up insanely thanks to Technician and STAB, and Bug Bite for alternate STAB (STAB technician Bug Bite does more than STAB X-Scissor) to handle Psychics and the Dark Types that threaten my Espeon and Latios.

Togekiss
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature:Modest
Item: Choice Specs
EVs: 64 HP, 192 Sp. Def, 252 Sp Atk.
Moves:
Air Slash
Aura Sphere
Flamethrower
Shadow Ball

Togekiss, otherwise known as Togehax/Flinchkiss. This moveset lowers the annoying factor a bit without t-wave, but the specs and moves allow it to hit EVERYTHING for hard damage. Of course, Air Slash still has the 60% flinch chance on slower threats, and flamethrower is there to mainly handle Ferro and Scizor, who would otherwise give me trouble. Aura Sphere is a good source of strong STAB, and even 2HKOs- OHKOs specially defensive Jirachi.
Shadow Ball is just there to fill in the 4th slot and to take on Jellicent.

Latios
Ability: Levitate
Nature:Timid
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 252 Speed, 252 Sp Atk
Moves:
Calm Mind
Surf
Dragon Pulse
Psyshock
My most prized sweeper, Latios. He has been transported all the way from Emerald, and can take down almost anything, even with only dual STAB. Calm Mind to boost Latios’s high special stats and sweep. With Soul Dew, only one Calm Mind is needed to deal high damage. Luster Purge is chosen over Psychic because it has a 50% to reduce Special Defense, meaning repeated hits make it easier to take foes down. Sometimes, it may even force a switchout, giving me a free Calm Mind. Pyshock is so he isn’t walled by Blissey.

I appreciate any advice on how to change them and how this team is. Edits are in bold.

[azeem40]

No point in having two Psychic type moves. Psyshock is superior because it helps Latios get past special walls like Blissey and Chansey and Jellicent. Replace Luster Purge with Surf or HP Fire. Surf handles Tyranitar while HP Fire roasts Forry, Scizor, and Ferro, to name a few.

[Shreyas]

More like 4 psychics lol

And, is Soul Dew allowed in OU? .-.

Anyway to the rate: I really don't understand the point of Latios having a Jolly nature with a full SpA set. I'm pretty sure you meant Timid. For Metagross, a Jolly nature is not really needed. Just go with Adamant so you can get that extra power in your hits, and still outspeed most of the Pokemon after an Agility. Usually, Agiligross should be more of a late game sweeper, so Life Orb would be a better option instead of leftovers.

And, on a Specially defensive SD Scizor, I really like Leftovers on it since you already have SD to boost up its attack, but I guess it's more personal preference.

I may rate a little more later. Hope I helped

[The Mysterious Stranger]

Yeah, soul dew is banned in OU.

On Latios I recommend Surf or HP [Fire] > Luster Purge for added coverage. Surf hits ground types, rock types, and fire types that aren't hit by psyshock. On the other hand, HP [Fire] hits steel types, especially Scizor. I believe it OHKOs every set, though I'm not sure if it KO's a bulky set (which I'm not even sure if people still run or not. Pretty sure Band and SD are the only real viable sets right now).

I don't agree with your reasoning of switching out Agility on Metagross. I feel that it's essential so that instead of Metagross needing to tank multiple hits, he can just outspeed more stuff and be done without the tanking. Save that HP for a rainy day, y'know?

[EonDragonFTW]

ok, so I gave Latios Surf over Luster Purge and made its nature Timid
and Metagross now has Life orb and Adamant Nature
Specially Defensive Scizor now has Leftovers

and @shreyas, I have Latios's surf, Gallade's Close Combat/Leaf Blade, Togekiss's Aura Sphere, Scizor's Bullet Punch and Metagross's Earthquake/Meteor Mash to handle T-tar.

[Color™]

I suggest Terrakion over Gallade, to me its a big threat these days to alot of team. Maybe Salac Sub + SD Terrkion or Choice Scarf.

[EonDragonFTW]

what item should I give Latios, since Soul Dew is banned?

[azeem40]

Your team is quite slow, so I suggest replace Calm Mind Latios with ScarfTios, with this set:

    Spoiler:- spoils:

Show Spoiler

 

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Moves:
Draco Meteor
HP Fire
Psyshock
Surf

 

[EonDragonFTW]

But my Latios doesn't have HP fire, that's why I made it a Calm Mind set

[Coyote_Dynamo]

I'm wrestling with the idea of giving Espeon a baton pass set instead of dual-screens. Something tells me that would be better, but I'd wait until you hear what others think of that.

[Blue Cobra]

I suggest you change Espeon or Gallade.
There is no reason to have a standard team with 4 pokemon of the same type, except you are running a mono type team.
You currently have 3 Pokemon with the same weakness: Ghost. A team should never has more than 2 pokemon with the same weakness.
I will also recommend to get some entry hazards, as well as a Rapid Spinner, since it is always a big support

[Divine Retribution]

^ This is a Hyper Offense team, one of the most popular strategies behind Hyper Offense is to use sweepers who share weaknesses and counters, with the intentions of overwhelming said counters. It's one of those few things that actually works better in practice than on paper.

[Atrocious]

Not really when Gengar gives this team fits sort of and outspeeds everything on this team besides +2 Metagross. Any decent attacker with Surf + Ice Beam demolishes this team especially ones that outspeed. Starmie and Keldeo in rain give this team some trouble especially with your lack of speed. I'd actually swap Psychic on Espeon for Baton Pass so it sort of works as a Dual Screener + Passer where you can pass boosts to say Latios. Then change Luster Purge for Psyshock as at +1 or +2 I think you're able to 2HKO Blissey.

[EonDragonFTW]

Yeah, I made this team with the HO strategy in mind. That's also why I Scarfed Gallade, so it can outspeed and KO Ghosts with Night Slash. Also, Latios doesn't currently have an item, so what should it be?
Edit: Ok, giving Baton Pass to Espeon so It can work out said strategy. With it Baton Passing boosts to Latios, that frees up a moveslot. What should it be?

[azeem40]

I suggest you change Espeon or Gallade.
There is no reason to have a standard team with 4 pokemon of the same type, except you are running a mono type team.
You currently have 3 Pokemon with the same weakness: Ghost. A team should never has more than 2 pokemon with the same weakness.
I will also recommend to get some entry hazards, as well as a Rapid Spinner, since it is always a big support

I disagree with your third point. As long as the team covers its weaknesses well, it won't be a problem having 3 Pokemon weak to ghost. He has one immunity and one resist.

[Blue Cobra]

I still don't think it is a good idea to have 3 Pokemon with the same weakness.
Synergy is a very important thing when building a team. Maybe the Pokemon are able to counter their weaknesses, but it can be very risky to rely on a Pokemon, which has a weakness to the opponent, and doesn't has some super effective STABs to deal out.
I know that the metagame is not that simple to just have a lot of different types, but a collective weakness can be a huge problem for every team.

[Divine Retribution]

I still don't think it is a good idea to have 3 Pokemon with the same weakness. Synergy is a very important thing when building a team. Maybe the Pokemon are able to counter their weaknesses, but it can be very risky to rely on a Pokemon, which has a weakness to the opponent, and doesn't has some super effective STABs to deal out. I know that the metagame is not that simple to just have a lot of different types, but a collective weakness can be a huge problem for every team.

Hmm, see I disagree. My best team is a Hyper Offense team with a 3x weakness to both Ghost AND Dark, and yet there is no Dark or Ghost in OU that gives me problems. Synergy also goes beyond type match-ups, for instance, would you use Deoxys-S on your Trick Room team? I think this team has most conceivable threats checked decently well, with a bit of prediction.

[That Crazy Russian™]

Hey eondragon, I seem to remember facing a variant of this team for the Aces League/EG league at one point. One of the two, haha.

Nice team, but it seems you have a problem with Rain offense, in particular, keldeo. In rain, he at least 2hkos every one of your pokemon, with some coverage move.

To a lesser extent, you are prone to being pursuit-trapped til you ragequit. With 3 Super-effective to dark, It shouldn't be all that hard for pokemon such as tyranitar or scizor to ko half your team. your only hope for t-tar is scizor, and that can't switch in on a mixed set with fire blast.

To fix some of this, try replacing gallade with amoongus. Give it just enough evs to always break +1 keldeo sub with giga drain. This amoongus will provide a good pivot point for your team, as well as checking keldeo, who i believe 3hkoes with hp ice. a feat indeed. amoongus also helps to check random ddancers, cmers, etc, in tthe form of clear smog, and with the sleep mechanics, spore is a great move to spam first turn. It'll also help take down tyranitar, who can't even hope to touch it at all.

That just leaves scizor uncovered.

Life Orb that latios, and give it the moves

earthquake, hp fire, dragon pulse/draco meteor, psyshock. Earthquake is something I picked up from BH. It allows it to beat tyranitar and heatran more reliably. two pokes who give you problems. you might need to change the evs around a bit though, to get the most out of them.

good luck with your team

[EonDragonFTW]

Doesn'tsurf already get rid of tyranitar and heatran? And Metagross has earthquake. I feel a bit weird teaching a special sweeper earthquake. And Latios has life orb now

[That Crazy Russian™]

I believe it only 2hkoes tyranitar in sand, which means if it switches in safely, you are easy pursuit bait. earthquake just also beats heatran, who you can't beat without surf.