Tearing the house down (Pokebank OU)

[Personthing]

At the start of bank, I floundered around quite a lot failing to implement the new mons into various teams. I eventually managed to make a team that I've found moderate success with, and have had a lot of fun with. (1681 points on Pokebank ladder, rank 65 at the time of typing this, username is: Some Guy Maybe?) However, I would like to see how it holds up under some critical analysis from the people here. I would like to apologize beforehand since I'm not the best with words, and this is the first RMT I've ever done.

 

 

 

The team:

The goal of this team can be summed up in a simple sentence: Hit things really hard. Generally, the goal is to clear the way for Tapu Lele or even Xurkitree to clean up, but since many people run very few Zard-Y switch ins outside of Toxapex and Chansey (Heatran can get chunked by Focus Miss, so it's not that great at stopping it), Zard tends to clean up just as often.

Xurkitree @ Psychium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hypnosis
- Tail Glow

When Xurkitree was revealed I wanted to use this thing so badly. Scarf was underwhelming, but then I saw it gets Hypnosis, and the effect Z-Hypnosis has. The general idea is to pretend it's scarf for a while (until it's revealed that Lele is scarf), get rid of its counters (Pheromosa, faster scarfers, weather speed boosters, and Alola Marowak) and then send it up on something it forces out and click Z-hypnosis, since even if it misses I get two shots at it. With Tail Glow, it can generally muscle past mons that resist T-bolt like Ferrothorn or Mega Venusaur at around 50% or less, and HP Ice for nice coverage against ground types, grass types, and dragons. Has a hard time if it can't set up vs fast teams, so that's a bit of an issue. 

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt

Scarf Lele hits a nice speed tier outspeeding the likes of Pheromosa and mega Alakazam, while also being pretty powerful. Psyshock is over Psychic so that with rocks up it can actually do something to chansey. HP-fire to predict Scizor and Ferrothorn switch ins, and t-bolt for some coverage vs the likes of Gyarados, should they not mega for fear of moon blast.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize  
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 SpD  
Careful Nature  
- Defog  
- Thunder Wave  
- U-turn  
- Roost

A standard bulky support. Mixed bulk lets it take hits pretty well from both sides of the spectrum. T-wave is nice for stopping the likes of Mega Metagross, both Charizards, and other fast mons should they think Mew is a free switch in for them. A slow U-turn lets Zard, Lele, Xurk, or even T-tar get in safely on targets that they can delete. EV set up is so Genesect doesn't get +attack and for nice mixed bulk in general.

Charizard-Mega-Y (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost

A special wall breaker at its finest. Most of the tier is quite scared to switch into this mon, barring the likes of Toxapex and Chansey. When it comes out against a slower Pokemon, something is taking a lot of damage. Even Tapu Fini struggles to take the combo of Fire Blast + Solar Beam. Has a very hard time against faster physical attackers though, barring Pheromosa since it can't hit it well with its STABs.

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake

Band T-tar hits like a truck, with very few mons being willing to switch into this thing. Pursuit is great for revenge killing Pokemon like Latios, as per usual. Can kinda check lead Genesect should I predict the lead right, as: 252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Pursuit (Withdrawn) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Genesect: 229-271 (80.9 - 95.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Nearly full HP is for maximum bulk.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet  
Ability: Intimidate  
EVs: 240 HP / 240 Def / 28 SpD  
Impish Nature  
IVs: 30 Spe  
- Stealth Rock  
- Earthquake  
- U-turn  
- Smack Down

Standard bulky Landorus-T. 30 speed IVs is so I never win the speed tie for U-turn vs opposing Landorus-T. Smack Down over Stone Edge to scare Skarmory and Celesteela switch ins.

Some problematic mons for this team: Mega Metagross. Should this thing run Ice Punch, which it usually does, Mew is the only mon that can take two hits from this thing. Greninja and Landorus-I are pretty hard to switch into as well. Feedback is appreciated.

All in all, far from a perfect team (Biggest flaw is in my opinion the lack of big physical pressure outside of t-tar), but I think it does its job of applying offensive pressure quite well.

Some replays of team in action:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-491931706

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-492964795

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-488688876

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-487120963

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-487064434

Edited December 19, 2016 by Personthing

[Odybld]

Hi man, team looks really nice and ZardTar is a monster combo from the last gen. I've barely touched this meta, but here's some small polishing.

 

Run a spread of 240-240-28SpDef on Lando-T, since that was a benchmark last Gen that allowed it to tank some HP Ice from full. Run some short of speed on Ttar, depending on whatever you'd might want to outspeed, in ORAS they usually ran either 76 speed EVs to creep Skarmory, 156 to creep Mandibuzz (that was the analysis spread and everyone took it from there) or even max speed Adamant to get the drop on uninvested Lando-T. Preferably drop Psychic from Mew in favour of U-Turn to give yourself some momentum, it's not like its stab does anything special for you. U-Turn will give you free chances to get Top Lele, Zardy or Ttar for free and nuke something. 

 

Also, to aid your RMT with the appropriate visuals, you can find Sun and Moon models here and sprites here respectively. I know it says XY and BW, but if you search the Pokemon's name, they'll be there, or at least should be. Use that to put the 6 of them next to each other for a quick glance at the team, and also each one's above the analysis for each team member. Make it look nice and be easier to read through :3

[Personthing]

 

Ok, and thanks for that, didn't know where to find the gen 7 models.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Personthing

[NickCrash]

I'm still waiting on the meta to stabilize, so my experience is quite small. Nevertheless this looks like a solid team overall, so my suggestions could be minimal.

 

Given your Lando-T is not offensive and you lack offensive presence in general, you'll need to break through Celesteela and Skarmory a bit easier so I suggest Smack Down over Stone Edge. It's not only more reliable, but it also forces switches since some pokemon will not decide to roost up or setup in your face after that. SR turns are guaranteed, and a STAB EQ without investment will still hit hard. Either that or U-turn into Xurkitree or Lele or even Zard for some serious wallbreaking. Those 3 whenever they come in in weakened teams guarantee at least 1 fainted mon.

 

Then it's Mew. As Ody said, it's not really an attacker. U-turn or Volt Switch are better options and you need slow pivots for your wallbreakers whose defenses are more or less thin. 

 

On Lele if you drop the speed at 224 you outspeed scarf Lando-T fully invested and jolly. Usually those are adamant, so you won't worry much but you outspeed nonetheless.

If ou don't want to bother with Jolly Landos which you can beat with your own Lando, and you only care about outspeeding Pheromosa, the following spread is just the best

EVs: 88 HP / 248 SpA / 172 Spe  
Timid Nature

Just 1 point higher in speed than Pheromosa, enough bulk to take a few hits, and your SpA is off the charts. 

 

That's all for now. Great team.

[Personthing]

I'll try smack down over stone edge, that seems like a very nice idea, thanks. I'm gonna experiment a little with Tapu Lele's EVs, but it needs 228 to outspeed jolly scarf Lando-T, so it doesn't give it as much room for bulk as I'd like there.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Personthing