Nope there's no typo! This is a monotype team for the natdex OU category. Ive playtested this team a good amount on the ladder and I'm posting this team here to find room from improvements and general thoughts from you guys. I'm rather new to teambuilding so any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated! So anyways without further ado, here is the team :
Kartana @ Normalium Z / Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Giga Impact
- Smart Strike
One of the main sources of damage in this team, Kartana's high attack stat allows it to threaten out opposing pokemon or become a potential sweeper in the late game. I usually use two different kartana depending on the situation, Normalium Z to help my team against threats that resist Bloom Doom like Zapdos. Usually I run Grassium Z which would KO Defensive Lando, SD Glisco, and Toxapex with the help of an attack boost or a little bit of chip.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic
The most important pokemon in my team as it is my only fire switch in, this poses alot of issues that I wil talk about later on. It is a great switch in to special threats like offensive Zapdos, Koko, Latias and Latios, Serperior, etc and is my only counter to Quiver Dance Volcarona. Toxic is extremely important for calm mind sweepers and for crippling Mega-Swampert in the difficult rain matchup.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
The all important physical wall and pivot of my team, Corviknight is an exceptional switch in to anything Physical (Except Mega Medicham) and most importantly is the only ground immunity on my team. Minimum speed U-Turn allows me to pivot into the big damage dealers like Kartana and Mega Mawile safely and keep offensive momentum. Defog is almost exclusively used for sticky web as my team really doesnt care too much about Rocks. Brave Bird is the attacking move of choice in order to give myself an option against fighting types likes Kommo-O, Mega Medi and Loppunny.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
The wallbreaker of the team, is absolutely invaluable in the stall matchup and is my team's only source of priority. Swords Dance allows it to break almost anything if it is allowed to setup but can still deal massive damage at +0. It is quite frail so it usually needs the support of Corviknight to get in the battle, however it can switch in to many weaker attacks and punish choice users or hazard setters.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
Good old Ferrothorn. Specially defensive with Power Whip to more reliably check special threats such as Greninja, Koko, Fini, Rotom-W, non Heat-Wave variants of Zapdos, etc. Additionally, Iron Barbs is very useful for getting chip damage on threats and U-Turners so that the damage dealers can do their work. Despite being specially defensive, Ferrothorn is still a great switch in to many physical attackers. I run spikes since I am more than happy to trade hazards with my opponent.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Toxic
Originally Excadrill was supposed to be just a filler as I had no idea what to put in my last slot, however I decided to give it my Kartana's scarf and have it serve as my speed control and it did not disappoint. Though despite saying that, it is probably the most replacable mon in my team. Scarf on Drill is quite interesting and unorthodox, which lets it outspeed any fast threats such as Mega Loppunny, The Tapus, +1 Blaziken, Greninja, Zeraora or slower Scarf users. It is also useful to have against Magnezone. Toxic might seem like an odd choice for a scarf set, but is surprisingly useful against setup sweepers that Heatran cannot toxic like Bulk-Up Fighting types or just to get a fast Toxic on something like a Mega Latias. Toxic is also quite useful for hiding the scarf.
Weaknesses that I've Noticed with the Team :
It IS a monotype team after all so it has many weaknesses, but here are some I've noticed.
Heatran - Yeah it does suck to be so so weak to arguably the best mon in the tier, and the only thing stopping it from sweeping my entire team is my own Heatran. Often times in the Heatran match up I have to outplay my opponent somehow with Corv and my own Heatran in order to win.
Blaziken - Unless I cheese it with Excadrill, it's almost always an auto-lose, luckily its not so commmon atleast in my experience.
Mega-Medi - Seriously, this thing just does not care about defense, it just absolutely breaks though Corviknight like its paper. While its not impossible to deal with since its relatively slow, it always scares me to see this mon on the enemy team.
Rain - The rain matchup is quite hard, as Swampert can easily run me over especially if im not careful.
Magnezone - Well it is monosteel after all, but its not too bad so long as I play around it.
Kartana @ Normalium Z / Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Giga Impact
- Smart Strike
One of the main sources of damage in this team, Kartana's high attack stat allows it to threaten out opposing pokemon or become a potential sweeper in the late game. I usually use two different kartana depending on the situation, Normalium Z to help my team against threats that resist Bloom Doom like Zapdos. Usually I run Grassium Z which would KO Defensive Lando, SD Glisco, and Toxapex with the help of an attack boost or a little bit of chip.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic
The most important pokemon in my team as it is my only fire switch in, this poses alot of issues that I wil talk about later on. It is a great switch in to special threats like offensive Zapdos, Koko, Latias and Latios, Serperior, etc and is my only counter to Quiver Dance Volcarona. Toxic is extremely important for calm mind sweepers and for crippling Mega-Swampert in the difficult rain matchup.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
The all important physical wall and pivot of my team, Corviknight is an exceptional switch in to anything Physical (Except Mega Medicham) and most importantly is the only ground immunity on my team. Minimum speed U-Turn allows me to pivot into the big damage dealers like Kartana and Mega Mawile safely and keep offensive momentum. Defog is almost exclusively used for sticky web as my team really doesnt care too much about Rocks. Brave Bird is the attacking move of choice in order to give myself an option against fighting types likes Kommo-O, Mega Medi and Loppunny.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
The wallbreaker of the team, is absolutely invaluable in the stall matchup and is my team's only source of priority. Swords Dance allows it to break almost anything if it is allowed to setup but can still deal massive damage at +0. It is quite frail so it usually needs the support of Corviknight to get in the battle, however it can switch in to many weaker attacks and punish choice users or hazard setters.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
Good old Ferrothorn. Specially defensive with Power Whip to more reliably check special threats such as Greninja, Koko, Fini, Rotom-W, non Heat-Wave variants of Zapdos, etc. Additionally, Iron Barbs is very useful for getting chip damage on threats and U-Turners so that the damage dealers can do their work. Despite being specially defensive, Ferrothorn is still a great switch in to many physical attackers. I run spikes since I am more than happy to trade hazards with my opponent.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Toxic
Originally Excadrill was supposed to be just a filler as I had no idea what to put in my last slot, however I decided to give it my Kartana's scarf and have it serve as my speed control and it did not disappoint. Though despite saying that, it is probably the most replacable mon in my team. Scarf on Drill is quite interesting and unorthodox, which lets it outspeed any fast threats such as Mega Loppunny, The Tapus, +1 Blaziken, Greninja, Zeraora or slower Scarf users. It is also useful to have against Magnezone. Toxic might seem like an odd choice for a scarf set, but is surprisingly useful against setup sweepers that Heatran cannot toxic like Bulk-Up Fighting types or just to get a fast Toxic on something like a Mega Latias. Toxic is also quite useful for hiding the scarf.
Weaknesses that I've Noticed with the Team :
It IS a monotype team after all so it has many weaknesses, but here are some I've noticed.
Heatran - Yeah it does suck to be so so weak to arguably the best mon in the tier, and the only thing stopping it from sweeping my entire team is my own Heatran. Often times in the Heatran match up I have to outplay my opponent somehow with Corv and my own Heatran in order to win.
Blaziken - Unless I cheese it with Excadrill, it's almost always an auto-lose, luckily its not so commmon atleast in my experience.
Mega-Medi - Seriously, this thing just does not care about defense, it just absolutely breaks though Corviknight like its paper. While its not impossible to deal with since its relatively slow, it always scares me to see this mon on the enemy team.
Rain - The rain matchup is quite hard, as Swampert can easily run me over especially if im not careful.
Magnezone - Well it is monosteel after all, but its not too bad so long as I play around it.
That's probably one of the best mons in the team but I would use him as Scarf user, as Excadrill in Mono Steel teams is usually the Speed Control form + Elec immunity but that way we can compress roles and Scarf Kart is fore sure good and can clean in the lategame.
The set is fine, I would probably just use Lava Plume + Earth Power and change Taunt with Protect but the trap set can be fine. If you really have too many problems with Heatran, you could try to use Balloon as the opposing Heatran won't be able to touch you but you will basically be playing 5v6 then altho your Heatran will possibly do some chip damage every time it comes in. Stealth Rock is also an option as double hazards on Thorn aren't always optimal.
I would for sure remove Defog since as u said u aren't really weak to hazards but webs which aren't incredibly popular, but as i will propose to change Excadrill Defog should be fine. Not sure what the mixed spread is for so i would just run max Def.
Double Hazards is usually only used on rain teams and i would actually avoid it here and probably just go for leech seed + protect keeping it safe so that we can scout our opponent's move and safely switch so that we avoid 50-50s in situations like a Lele that could use Focus Blast or Thunder Wave/Knock off are also great options to wear down opposing teams. We can also keep Spikes on this and put Rocks on Tran.
If we make Choice Scarf Kart back again we can try Aegislash here with either a Specs set or a Swords Dance + Ghostium z one. We would be weaker to Electric with Ferrothorn being our best mon but as there are mainly a couple of Electric mons used in the tier we should be fine. Aegi can help switching on some Fighting attacks and on mons like Mega Medicham, doesn't get trapped by Zone and overall also gets Shadow Sneak which at +2 can help to clean up along with mawile and kart, but it still is able to break through walls like Pex thanks to the Z move.