Cloudly with a chance of rain

Hey all its Snow and I decided to post up my latest team that I've been using in the OU tier.


Azelf @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Explosion

So here we have a basic bread and butter azelf lead. Nothing really new about this from 4thgen but it still works. Taunt for stopping rock, spikes, or pokemon who like to set up such as shell smash cloyster or anything else that could cause me problems when starting a match. Obvious stealth rocks is obvious . Psychic is there as a nice hard hitting stab move and explosion is for take out whatever my opponents lead might be or for doing some nice damage to something my opponent might have switched in after getting hit with a taunt.
I basically chose this lead over many of the others for the simple fact you don't see it anymore and I find her to still be a great lead even in the new 5thgen. She has the right answers to a lot of other leads that either are slower or don't use prankster, but when I see those leads I've learned how to handle those situations.



Mienshao (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- U-turn
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge

A strange looking but strong pokemon, Mienshao plays two roles in this team. Heavy hitting offensive and also scouting other pokemon. Fake out is a great follow up to after blowing up azelf and seeing my opponents pokemon survived with a focus sash. Plus 3 speed priority grants me an assured kill to anything surviving with a sash or sturdy ability or breaking that possible sash if my attempts to set up rocks is ruined. U-turn is for scouting and healing with her with her ability regenerate durring the switch for 30%. Hi Jump Kick+ life orb grants me huge damage though not as accurate as other fighting type moves. Stone edge for coverage against flying types.



Serperior (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Contrary
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Giga Drain

Serperior was hands down one of my favorite pokemon when 5thgen was introduced and I still love using her in most of my teams. Leaf Storm combined with her amazing ability Contrary gives her a +2 to her special attack every time she makes a successful hit. Light Screen and Reflect not only helps give her a nice bulk but also add some defense to the rest of my team like dragonite for setting up one or two dragon dances, vaporeon for stalling, and politoed to possible get off a perish song. Giga Drain is for healing since I chose lum berry for her item to help protect against being hit with a T-wave or Toxic and after a few Leaf Storm boost it really makes a difference from being one hit away from death and suddenly gaining quite a bit of health back with a possible KO.



Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 120 HP / 136 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Refresh
Oh Politoed how you have seriously defined the meaning of "Raining all over some ones parade" for you do it quite well. Sadly all you do for my team is provide the rain for there are obviously much better choices if I was looking for just another bulky water type. Scald gives me a 30% chance to burn anything she faces and its a nice stab move. Protect lets me scout out my next opponents move in case there is a possible threat to her., Refresh removes any status aliments like toxic, burn, or para. Perish song does two things, 1 it grants the possibility of KOing an opponents pokemon if they don't notice the perish song after three turns, 2 it forces my opponent to switch out his pokemon that he/she could possible be trying to set up with.
Over all politoeds role in this team boils down to 3 things, 1 set up infinite rain, 2 provide a decent special wall, and 3 a cheap victory with perish song when my opponent is down to one pokemon.


Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 76 HP / 220 Def / 52 SAtk / 160 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Scald
- Roar
- Shadow Ball
Plain and simple Vaporeons new ability Hydration has greatly increased her ability to wall other pokemon in this new metagame. Not to say water absorb is bad but being as bulky as she is and while in the rain becoming completely immune to all status effects is IMO a wonderful ability to have and abuse. Rain+Rest+Hydration=full heal every time. Scald is a great stab move with the chance to burn. Roar is great for phazing and damaging things if Azelf is successful at setting up rocks. Shadow Ball though an odd choice is my counter to sand teams using Jellicent for its water absorb ability, Gengar and Starmie's nasty thunderbolts, choice spec Alakazam and hitting anything else for neutral damage thats not a normal type.



Dragonite (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 80 HP / 116 Atk / 32 Def / 80 SDef / 200 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Rest
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Last but certainty not least is Dragonite. Not to keep going on about new abilities but Multiscale Dragonite is just a wonderful combination. At full health with multi scale and with this odd ev spread, My Dragonite has survived so many attacks and able to successfully pull of a Dragon Dance, leading me through some crazy comebacks. Rest+lum gives me a full heal and instant wake up. Earthquake is to take out steel types and Dragon Claw is a nice stab move that I won't be locked into like outrage.

First off.

SNOW =DDDD

Second.

YAY =DDD

Third, a critique~

Firstly, the team as a whole. I feel like you had mixed ideas when you wanted to make it, so you made a balanced team with late Rain to play around with. I like the idea, but I kinda see some linear playability here, or it becoming too disorganized when you try to play it and parts being lost at bad times. This being said, it's not my team so I shouldn't say XD.

Anywho, the main problem I see is the particular walls being limited to water types. If a stonger Grass/Electric type with decent coverage comes out, you can get beaten or dented heftily. Bar Azelfs speed [I think] and Fake Out, and Multiscale Dragonite depending on how the game unfolds, I see HP Ice Serperior taking you out cold. This being said, working with only Two Water walls I think you did good. The thing I see is that Azelf, Mienshao, and Serperior don't have a ton of switch-in value as they are. This means your two walls and your finisher are it. Keeping that in mind, you also only have your finisher as a means of higher speed.

That aside, the EVs could use fixin's. When you have a 142/252 hp/sp def or some similar spread, you're not getting maximum efficiency. 248 HP is the max efficiency, because it covers both special and physical attacks for usually a very similar amount than dumping them into one stat, and it also gets less residual damage as opposed to 252. So a 252/100 spread is better than 100/252 for hp/sp def. Just an example, so I'd double check on those spreads with not maxed HP and I'd ask if you benefitted from that. Just a thought. =P

That's the major stuff. If you want any critiques on certain aspects in particular from me, ask and you shall recieve =P. Also, Awesome use of Mienshao, I love that type of set <3

Looks fairly offensive to me s;
Might just be me.

As for Vaporeon, I suggest taking all Special Attk EV's since it has a great SpAtk stat already and you're using something like Scald over Surf. Scald doesn't need much Fire Power behind it, it's meant to chip and (occasionally) burn.

Well, Politoed and Vaporeon are meant for walls from what I could interpret and Serperior and Dragonite are meant to go and take hits and dish them back out - a tank if you will, which is both an offensive and defensive role. So it's plausible to see a major offensive or a major defensive here, hence my saying balanced.

This topic has been moved to this section, since the section's addition followed the creation of this topic. Thank you ~

Yeah, I guess so, but if Vape is meant to be a wall, then that's one more reason for it to have almost, if not none, Atk/SpAtk investment .@.

I didn't say it should have the investment, I'm just assuming thier's either a reason for it or it'll be removed.

Well, the only reason there would be investment, the only one I can see, is for Shadow Ball. But for the fact that Shadow Ball could bring SpDef down a stage, it's as good as a +1 in SpAtk, more than what that investment could bring. In my eyes, those 52 EV investment is just a hindrance, you could use those in HP and bring up you're bulk a lot more. Before you start arguing/stating something against me, according to the set, it's a crippler/phazer. These sets usually don't need SpAtk :/

Paradox wrote:Before you start arguing/stating something against me, according to the set, it's a crippler/phazer.

I wasn't about to. Although you have to keep in mind that my opinions are my own and I'll say what I do, no one can control that by me.

Paradox wrote:But for the fact that Shadow Ball could bring SpDef down a stage, it's as good as a +1 in SpAtk, more than what that investment could bring.

The key word - could. You're playing with a 10% chance, and frankly it's a preference call when it comes to that. 10% chance means that you have a rather small chance of hitting it for that benefit. Not to mention the Benefit comes after. If you needed the EVs to make the difference, 52 might no equal a -1 Sp defensive stage, but it's a garunteed bonus, and not after the attack. It's static, unconditional. So while you may prefer the drop, she might prefer the passive bonus.

Ultimately though, I'll reference this:

I didn't say it should have the investment, I'm just assuming thier's either a reason for it or it'll be removed.

Because if she has a viable reason to run those 52 EVs, and it helps, I'll honor it. It's what the game is for me, finding viable things that aren't normal. Attacking walls aren't normal. Well, Tanks are even uncommon now. So, if she has a good reason to run Shadow Ball and 52 EVs, more power to her. I don't like just placing them for no reason, but if they do have one, I don't mind. Hence, reason or remove.