Team "Sinful Desire" - Ranked 7th on OU leaderboard

[WECAMEASROMANS]

INTRODUCTION:

The team below is one of the best teams I have created yet, and since my run in the Good OU tourney has come to an end, I have decided to post it up in the RMT forum. It has been extremely successful for me, getting up to #7 on the OU leaderboard in the span of three days under the alt: Sinful_Desire, as shown above. Although this is a very good accomplishment, I get the feeling that it can be made even better, with some help from the RMT experts. Please help me improve this team :)

The goal of the team is to set up SR + Spikes + SS, then walling my opponents with my maximum defenses, while phazing them away to accumlate more residual damage. After my opponent's pokes are weakened enough, either Tyranitar or Scizor can come in and have a clean sweep.

Without further ado, here is team "Sinful Desire"!


THE SINFUL POKES

A CLOSER LOOK:

Skarmory @ Lum Berry
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/220 spdef/36 spe
Careful nature (+spdef, -atk)
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Brave bird
- Roost

Skarmory is just such an amazing lead, I'm surprised it's not even in the top 15 most used leads. It can render so many opposing leads useless with taunt and then proceed to set up on them. This includes Swampert, Hippowdon, and even Metagross. Taunt + Lum is highly effective in the lead position, as it can stop leads who carry sleep moves to incapacitate the opponent, like Roserade and Smeargle. Spikes is why Skarm is such a fantastic poke in general; it can take up to 25% of all grounded pokes. Brave bird is there to 2HKO Azelf leads and to say fuck you to Machamp leads. Roost is there for self longevity, but I rarely find myself using it because after Skarm sets up three layers of spikes she usually is dead weight for the team.

The EVs are very specific. Max HP is obvious for maximum durability on both sides of the spectrum. 220 spdef EVs makes sure that lead Roserade will never 2HKO Skarm with HP fire, doing 49% max. As an added bonus, Scarf Magnezone will also never OHKO you, doing 99% max. (lol fail) 36 speed EV allow Skarm to outspeed 28 speed Metagross, and also other Gross who put 32 to outspeed the standard 28! (the rest is redundant)

As shown below, Skarm is capable of handling the majority of leads. Here are the top 10 most used leads as of July 2010.

Azelf leads are too fucking versatile these days. idk whether it is the standard sash lead, a coulbur lead, or a LO lead designed to OHKO Machamp. However, brave bird 2HKOes the standard 4/0 Azelf, which means they taunt me, set up rocks, and die. If it's carrying Fire Blast, Skarm still survives, dies from Brave bird recoil, and them Rotom-H comes in and revenge kills it. If it's one of the bulkier versions that aren't 2HKOed by Brave bird, go to Rotom-H and take it down. A little bit tricky.

Spikes first turn, lum off the confusion, and then hit hard with Brave bird, dying in the process. Then go to Rotom-H and revenge kill. This makes us both 5-5, but I have spikes up while they don't.

Go to Swampert while they taunt and 2KHO with ice beam

Taunt as they SR, then set up spikes.

Same as above, but a bit easier because they cannot explode.

Easy poke, I usually set up three layers of spikes with this thing. If it's a tricker, take the scarf, Skarm doesn't mind it that much. If it's a twave version, that's already two layers since the first one is rendered useless with lum. A third layer is down as Jirachi sets up SR. Then switch to pert.

Lum off the sleep, and taunt. HP fire won't 2HKO, so set up two layers, and then switch to Heatran, then set up a sub as they switch.

Instant switch to Pert. If they fire blast first turn, EQ to activate their shuca, then SR as they switch. If they SR instead, set up SR as they obviously will not be staying in.

Switch to pert to take either SR/Fake out/fire blast. EQ to activate sash, then switch to Rotom-H to take CC/Endeavor. Revenge with tbolt.

Taunt, spikes, Brave bird.



Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/216 def/40 spdef
Relaxed nature (+def, -spe)
- Stealth rock
- Earthquake
- Ice beam
- Roar

When it was time to choose a stealth rocker, Swampert was my first choice for it's reliability, and it's amazing type synergy with lead Skarm. Skarm switches to Pert for fire and electric attacks, and Pert switches to Skarm for grass attacks. Earthquake and ice beam gets you good type coverage, hitting threats such as Flygon, Ttar, and Dnite super effectively. Roar is chosen in the last spot since my team relies on entry hazard damage so much.

These are the standard Mixpert EVs, with 40 EVs in spdef, since Pert will be switching in on Heatran's fire blast quite often.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash fire
EVs: 252 HP/252 spdef/4 spatk
Calm nature (+spdef, -atk)
- Substitute
- Lava plume
- Earth power
- Roar

This Heatran set is a beast. With the banning of Mence and Latias, Heatran has rightfully taken Scizor's spot as the #1 most used poke in OU. However, when people see Tran nowadays, it HAS to be an offensive poke with max spatk max speed. This Heatran is a specially defensive tran, and it is imo the best Heatran set currently. Switch into one of the many pokes that Heatran scares off, like Jirachi and Forretress, set a sub as they switch to their bulky water, and Roar them out as they suffer more entry hazard damage. Common switch ins such as Gyarados and Vaporeon will suffer about 50% just coming in on Tran and being forced back out by Roar. SS prevents them from getting leftovers recovery. Lava plume is chosen over flamethrower/fire blast because this Heatran isn't going to be hurting that much, and the 30% burn is always welcome on things like Gyarados and Dnite. Earth power is there for obviously other Heatrans.

Max hp max spdef with a calm nature makes Heatran one of the most sturdiest special tanks in OU. LO Celebi/Shaymin will not OHKO you with Earth power, while you strike back with Lava plume. This thing can also beat non shuca Tran one on one, as it is guaranteed to survive a scarf Tran's Earth power and OHKO back with your own. Nasty plot Infernape, one of the biggest threats to this team, fails to OHKO with CC while you KO back with Earth power. Bold 0 spatk Vaporeon and Suicune also fail to 2KHO.

Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 28 HP/252 spatk/228 spe
Timid nature (+spe, -atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow ball
- Overheat
- Trick

Rotom-h is my main revenge killer, as it takes care of things that would otherwise wreck my team, including DD taunt Gyarados and SD Lucario, KOing them both. It also picks off a weakened Infernape, which could pose a massive problem. It has good type synergy with Heatran, coming in on both fighting and ground moves aimed at it. Trick allows me to permantly disable last one mon armies such as Crocune or Curselax. It also takes out one of the staples of stall, Blissey.

Max spatk is neccessary to do as much damage to Infernape. 228 speed is all I need to outpace Jolly Gyarados, and the rest are placed in HP.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 160 HP/176 atk/168 spdef/4 spe
Adamant nature (+atk, -spatk)
- Bullet punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Scizor's usage has heavily declined with the removal of Mence and Latias. However, it is still a massive threat you should be prepared for. It's 4x weakness to fire is just an opportunity for Heatran to come in for free and destroy opponents. U-turn is for scouting purposes, and OHKOes Celebi. Pursuit is what I use on Starmie and Gengar, as they can be potentially very dangerous and I need them eliminated ASAP. Superpower is for Blissey and other Scizor. Late game though, is when Scizor truly shines. With SS + SR + Spikes weakening my opponent, Scizor can come in and just spam Bullet punch. You wouldn't believe how much times I was down 4-2, or 3-1, but I still had Scizor and the rest of the opponent's team was massively weakened, and I still won just because of Bullet punch. This thing has saved my ass on multiple occasions, and it is suprisingly simple to use.

I tweaked the EVs to make Scizor much more specially defensive, since I plan on switching him on Gengar's shadow ball very often, and to take hits from Starmie better. 176 attack still packs a good punch, and I have never missed the power from what a 252 attack would give you.

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 atk/252 spe/4 HP
Jolly nature (+spe, -spatk)
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire punch

The last member, and the beast himself, Tyranitar. It's abilty is extremely important for the team, as Heatran absolutely NEEDS sandstream support to cancel out bulky water's leftovers recovery. Dragon Dance is the obvious set up move, and after a single boost Tyranitar can wreck teams lacking a Swampert or a Scizor. Fire punch is there to nail Forretress, who would otherwise set up on me or even hit hard with EQ (lol). Lum Berry is there so I can set up on Rotoms who think that I'm scarfed and just WoW me with impunity. Speaking of which, I feel like DD Tyranitar is hugely underrated in the current metagame. Everyone expects scarf now, and with the decline of Scizor and the increase of Heatran, DDTar can be a huge threat in OU.

Standard 252/252 sweeping set, with Jolly over Adamant JUST so I can outspeed Starmie after a dragon dance. Yeah, Starmie's a total bitch.


CONCLUSION:

Okay so that's my RMT. The main problems for it are SD Lucario, Nasty Plot Infernape with grass knot, and Starmie. Rate/hate/steal, and please comment!

 

[ShoddyCem]

I'm not going to make a very long comment because I am tired, and also it seems your team doesn't need that much changing to me, the only thing I would say is, that your lack of any water type moves obviously allows Infernape more room to cause damage, however I guess you can't have all the type coverage in the metagame and still have a team that functions as a good team. I for one am a big fan of this team, and may have to steal some of the ideas myself :)

 

[Scimjara]

Hello Lucas69xx nice team you have yourself very solid and congrats on the ladder peak, I have a few suggestions that may help your team out!

There isn't much to suggest or change around or even suggest at this point since this team is well made and pretty solid. In your conclusion you state the threats SD Luke, NP Infernape, and Starmie. LO Starmie being a major threat for this team since it out speeds your whole team beside scarf Rotom, this does good amount of damage against Tyranitar, Heatran, Scizor (since you invested SpD Evs) and Swampert. I can visualize LO Starmie pulling of an easy late game sweep if Rotom-h is pursuited or ko'd some way. Infernape also has a similar situation but against your team due to it's wide spread coverage can easily be threatening against cores with Swampert and Heatran. Since Rotom is the only pokemon on your team who out speeds all these threats, I would be awfully concerned about bringing in Rotom early/mid game so it won't be Pursuited leaving those three threats to freely sweep.

Like I said there isn't really anything to change but what I do suggest is for you to use Choice Scarf Scizor. As silly as this sounds and I truly hate suggesting something like this but I can really see it benefiting your team. Providing your team some extra speed which can actually help as well as backing up Rotom if it's out of play and Scizor's generally have more longevity because of the constant scouting. Scarf Scizor out speeds those three threats and can easily Pursuit trap Starmie. You also surprise kill Lucario since you would out speed and pull of a ko' with Superpower. This leaves Infernape who can generally be a pain with priority and resits all of your attacks beside Superpower which does 59.4% - 70%.

Scizor @ Choice Scarf | Technician
Jolly | 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe
U-turn | Pursuit | Superpower | Bullet Punch

With your Infernape weakness not exactly covered for now I would insist you use Scarf Rotom-W. Then you are able to play of Infernape by switching around cautiously to Heatran and to Rotom. Hydro Pump ko's Infernape since there is no real point of having Overheat since Scarf Scizor handles Lucario and with Thunderbolt you are always able to revenge kill weakened Luke if something goes wrong. Hydro Pump also lets you nail those incoming band/scarf Tyranitar switch ins.
---
Good Luck! Congrats once again

 

[Smith]

Sup. I think you have a typo on Rotom's speed, it says 28/252/28. That said, I think you should change him up a bit. The main threats you mentioned were Starmie, infernape and lucario. Try using this set:

252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SpAtk
Timid
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Hydro Pump
-Will-o-wisp

Two major changes, EV spread and peripheral moves. The added bulk means you can switch into Starmie/Gyarados with greater ease, and Hydro Pump over Overheat is good to give you a reliable way to revenge Infernape. I also added Will-o-wisp at my leisure as stall doesn't really seem like a problem for this, and I think will-o-wisp will prove useful for neutering Lucario/Tyranitar etc.

Beyond that, you have two Pokemon weak to water and no resists, which is troubling because I think Rotom is responsible for covering two much. If he gets pursuited, you really are in a pickle. However I don't really think I could change much without ruining the synergy here, I wish I could fit a Kingdra somewhere in here. Nonetheless the best I could do is suggest a Scarf Scizor if you don't mind having two scarfers, solely because this team fucking hates starmie and Scizor geta a basically guarenteed kill on the bitch. I apologize for not being more helpful, congratulations on getting so high on the ladder.

Edit: Ok I seriously did not see Scimjara's post when I typed this up, I took a long while to come up with this rate because I was looking for more holes in the team. But yeah, sorry, exact same thing.

 

[Starbuck]

Odd, I made a team a lot like this just yesterday and most of the problems in mine are here in yours.

The first is that special sweepers, Gengar and Starmie in particular, are big pains. I use a Scarf Tyranitar for that, and although you have Scizor for Gengar, Magnezone works alongside Gengar quite often and Rotom can be Pursuit'd. Basically, both of your revengers can be trapped easily and then you've got a problem.

If SD Luke and NP Infernape are hurting you, a Rest Talk Gyarados can be used over Swampert. You lose Swampert's SR, but Heatran could drop Roar for SR, and then phazing duties go to Gyarados. That's how my team is, but if you drop Swampert you drop your Rock resistance, unfortunately.

 

[WECAMEASROMANS]

Thanks for the rates everyone, I will try Rotom-W over Rotom-H to Ohko Infernape. Also, Scarf Scizor sounds like a weird suggestion, but the ability to OHKO starmie before it attacks sounds swell. I'll definitly try it out! Keep the rates coming guys!

 

[IronBullet]

Hey,

Seems like a good team, but I have a few suggestions. Seeing the lack of a Water-resist, status absorber, and a glaring weakness to Infernape, I'd suggest replacing Swampert with a RestTalk Gyarados. Gyarados is one of the best Infernaoe checks out there, and is an excellent counter to SD Lucario and Heatran, reducing the pressure on Rotom-w. It provides your team with a reliable status absorber, and a great shuffler. To compensate for the loss of SR, simply place it over Brave Bird on Skarmory. Skarmory now poses next to no offensive threat, but it doesn't mind it. You can also replace Taunt with BB, since you pack a reliable sleep absorber for Roserade leads. Toxic Spikes does jack shit to your team anyway with the removal of Swampert and Tyranitar's Lum Berry.

Since you now lack an Electric immunity, you could try out a Scarf Flygon over Scarf Scizor. Scarf Flygon comes in on Starmie's Thunderbolt with impunity, and can easily U-turn out for good damage, or just Earthquake for plenty. It provides you with an excellent check to Jolteon, Dragonite and Kingdra. It also gives you insurance against Petaya Empoleon and Agiligross. With Flygon and Gyarados checking a huge range of threats, you can afford to drop the scarf on Rotom. The Defensive Washing Machine sounds like it'd support the team rather well, but if you'd rather be safe against Lucario and Starmie, by all means keep the Scarf.

Great team, 5 stars.

 

[Screaming Angel]

Nice team you have here, and the fact that you got to #7 on the leaderboard proves it. The thing I have been wondering is how do you deal with LO Heatran leads. Most of the time they carry Hidden Power grass to teal with Swampert everything on your team gets OHKOed by it except Tyranitar which means you have to play really careful with it. I would also suggest you change Swampert to Gyarados as that would ease off the Heatran weak. I don't hav anything to add since most of the things that were on my mind were suggested but nice team.