OU / Maybe Reborn Team

[Patrick]

Team Building Process:

I wanted to start off my team with something I could rely on both with offense and defense. I thought about it for a little bit and saw Empoleon had a huge amount of resistances thanks to its Water/Steel typing. With Choice Specs it can wreak a lot of pokemon, especially in Rain.

I figured my next step would be to build some synergy around Empoleon, and then I saw Roserade. Nice for setting up Toxic Spikes as well (which all of my team resists in some way).

At this point Synergy was still on my mind, but I also wanted an Electric type so Rotom-H it was. Plus Levitate got rid of a crucial weakness, and an immunity to Toxic Spikes.

From here I figured I needed a regular Attacker instead of another Special Attacker. With this Lucario came to mind, especially with access to ExtremeSpeed and Crunch.

Offense was still on my mind and at this point I still wanted to be immune to Toxic Spikes. Salamance fills this role very nice.

I was at a loss for quite a bit with this one, but i figured Gengar could cover for some of Lucario's weakness. On top of that with great Speed and Special Attack it makes and excellent Sweeper.

@ Choice Specs

Trait: Torrent

EVs: 200 HP / 252 SAtk / 56 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Ice Beam

- Surf

- Grass Knot

- Hydro Pump

The start of where I designed this team I wanted a jack of all trades for this one. Empoleon has decent HP and Defences, and combined with a Choice Specs it has amazing Special Attack. Ice Beam for Dragon and Grass types, Hydro Pump for pure power, Surf as a safe alternative to Hydro Pump, and Grass Knot for other Bulky Water types.

@ Focus Sash

Trait: Natural Cure

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Toxic Spikes

- Leaf Storm

- Sleep Powder

- Hidden Power [Fire]

Team Synergy was the main basis for Roserade, along with Toxic Spikes. It still has decent Speed and Special Attack so Leaf Storm is for raw power. Sleep Powder to have time to set up Toxic Spikes, and Hidden Power [Fire] is for Steel types I am normally walled by.

@ Choice Scarf

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Volt Switch

- Overheat

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power [ice]

Rotom-H stood to be the final part in my synergy with Empoleon and Roserade, and with Leavitate it has immunity to Ground types. Hidden Power [ice] for Dragon and Ground types, Overheat for a good Fire attack, Volt Switch to retreat with damage, and Thunderbolt for when I don't want to retreat.

@ Life Orb

Trait: Inner Focus

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Close Combat

- Crunch

- ExtremeSpeed

- Swords Dance

Next I wanted an Offensive Sweeper but one who could resist Toxic Spikes, which is why I chose Lucario. Close Combat and Crunch covers quite a bit of types, ExtremeSpeed for priority, and Swords Dance to set up and Sweep.

@ Life Orb

Trait: Moxie

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd

Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)

- Earthquake

- Fire Blast

- Dragon Claw

- Dragon Dance

Next I realized I wanted a Dragon type, and decided to go with raw power with Salamance. Earthquake for Electric and Steel types, Fire Blast for Defensive Steel types and Skarmory, Dragon Claw over Outrage for lack of confusion, and Dragon Dance for a quick Sweeper.

@ Focus Sash

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power [ice]

Last but not least I decided on Gengar, mostly for Alakazam and Espeon. Thunderbolt for Water types, Focus Blast to beat Dark types and Tyranitar, and Hidden Power [ice] for Dragon types.

Empoleon (M) @ Choice Specs

Trait: Torrent

EVs: 200 HP / 252 SAtk / 56 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Ice Beam

- Surf

- Grass Knot

- Hydro Pump

Roserade (F) @ Focus Sash

Trait: Natural Cure

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Toxic Spikes

- Leaf Storm

- Sleep Powder

- Hidden Power [Fire]

Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Volt Switch

- Overheat

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power [ice]

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Inner Focus

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Close Combat

- Crunch

- ExtremeSpeed

- Swords Dance

Salamence (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Moxie

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd

Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)

- Earthquake

- Fire Blast

- Dragon Claw

- Dragon Dance

Gengar (M) @ Focus Sash

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power [ice]

[Conor]

hey pat,

nice to see you started out with a fire, water, grass core, although its not defensive it can still be used to cause great damage on the switch in.

something I want to mention about this trio, is that roserade is completely outclassed by so many other things. it is near impossible to set up toxic spikes or any hazard in league, it has been pretty much known that they are useless on both sides. also, its sp attack is mediocre at best. a good replacement i would suggest is either serp or breloom. serp gives you great coverage against weather as well as just being a great sweeper over all. I'll give you a set that pretty much takes care of anything later on in the post. Breloom is also a viable option because it evens out the amount of physical and special attackers you have. Breloom also has spore which is like sleep powder times 1,000 in accuracy. breloom also gives the team so much needed priority thats needed if you'll ever want to take down Terra's excadrill. I'll also throw in another set for him as well.

next up is something simple... i would switch thunderbolt on Rotom with Trick, just personal preference because you have nothing that can stop a set up...

thirdly, I would suggest a dragonite over mence. mence is a very solid pokemon indeed, but can't function well in league without a scarf set, which you would not want to use since you already have two other choice pokemon. Dragonite has multiscale, which im sure you're aware of, that can help you get that one ddance off. in league being able to set up is crucial! IT really helps when you're going late game and are relying on a salamence to stop an excadrill. Dknight will just ocme in tanking that rock slide from exca and dealing a fire punch right back at him.

That's about all i have to say on the matter, if this team isn't for league then i would recommend the rotom switch only because mence and roserade are still both viable in competitive OU.

Serperior (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Contrary

EVs: 128 Def / 128 SDef / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Leaf Storm

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Dragon Pulse

- Substitute

128 split defenses to wall non stab ice beams as well as most other non super effective physical attacks. rest in speed for ridicclous 357 speed. special attack is made up for with contrary. DP to hit dragons, and hp fire to hit ferro. LS for everything else lol

Breloom (F) @ Life Orb

Trait: Technician

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Bullet Seed

- Spore

- Mach Punch

- Swords Dance

Standard, breloom set is standard.

Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers / Lum Berry

Trait: Multiscale

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Dragon Dance

- Dragon Claw

- Fire Punch

- ExtremeSpeed / Roost

if you go with roost, go lum berry to take care of status problems... if you go with ES use lefties to heal. i reecomend extremespeed.

[Shanco]

Yooooooo

• I say go down the route of Heat Wave on Salamence if you take this to League. It will be a nice spread move that can lay waste so some opponents.
  
• Also pertaining to League, see if you can find a support Pokemon like Donphan. It will help you out in the end by helping your heavily offensive team take the opposition down easier.
  

As for actual OU, basically everything that Conor said + the suggestion about Donphan.

[slant]

You need to have a spinner on this team: Rotom-H and Salamence both are weak to stealth rocks, while Roserade and Gengar have their focus sashes broken. I suggest replacing Roserade with Forretress. It can set up hazards and spin as well. Something like Gyro Ball / Volt Switch / Stealth Rock / Rapid Spin. Stealth rock is more important than toxic spikes anyways, since it is guaranteed to hit everything for at least a little bit of damage.This change would make you lose your water resist, but you have that covered by Salamence and Empoleon anyways.