Help with OU team
Let me preface this by saying I'm still fairly new to actually playing showdown, and I'm not exactly what you'd call good.
I play in Gen 8 OU.
The primary goal with the team is to get rid of everything that threatens scizor with fire, then bring in scizor to sweep or clean up. Not sure what class of team it would be...is bulky offense a thing?
[1196]Replay where my team does what it's generally supposed to do (the rapid spin was a misclick)
G-Shock (Lanturn) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Volt Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Lanturn is here to eat electric attacks, check fire, and generally benefit from the rain caused by pelipper. The team isn't specifically a rain team, so I opted for the accurate always thunderbolt over thunder. Ice beam for coverage, Twave if I expect they'll swap to something that isn't immune. Also pressures toxapex. Shuca berry to survive a single earthquake for a surf, if I think it'll kill.
Pryde (Sylveon) @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Mystical Fire
Sylveon is my team's support, and built to be a special wall. Mystical fire is for defensive steel types that think they can swap in for free, but it's also useful for the special attack drop that could help the wish recipient not take too much damage on the swap. Wiki berry because I don't know what else to use.
Toke (Torkoal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Modest Nature
- Lava Plume
- Scorching Sands
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Torkoal is here as my answer to rillaboom and kartana, as well as another fire move swap in to help protect scizor. Provides rocks and spin, and passes out burns with a bit of luck. Leftovers to recover the chip he'll take from hazards on swap ins.
Crawdaddy (Crawdaunt) @ Protective Pads
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
Crawdaunt is my preferred lead, its knockoff is awesome, and aqua jet for sash and other low hp survivors. Not sure about keeping crabhammer, and close combat is coverage that sometimes slaps a ferrothorn that wasn't expecting it. I'm not married to using protective pads, but they've been helpful for avoiding chip from the inevitable rocky helmets, rough skins, and iron barbs. He can also break walls that are weak to knockoff or CC, such as slowking and blissey. Crawdaunt is tied for MVP in my matches, alongside pelipper.
Pope (Pelipper) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 160 HP / 160 Def / 188 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Roost
Pelipper rain helps protect scizor as well, but he's primarily here to check lando-T, urshifu, garchomp, and eat earthquakes. EVs are so that it deals unexpectedly high damage to them, while still being bulky defensively. Rocky helmet to punish urshifu's multi hit thing, as well as the inevitable u-turns from lando-t.
Skinny Krabs (Scizor) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Dual Wingbeat
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Scizor is the main man 'mon. Opted for HP evs instead of speed thanks to priority from BP, and many of the other mons on the team are able to eat fire attacks for him. I chose dual wingbeat as the second attack because it breaks substitute and sash, as well as super effective against bugs/grass. Expert belt because I don't know what else to use.
Urshifu is a problem for my team.
Pelipper dies to urshifu if it stays in and spams the auto crit triple attack (or if it's actually packing thunderpunch), probably thanks to the rain. Kind of a problem considering I wanted pelipper to check it.
The team feels weak against teams that go all-in on stalling the match. I have no trouble breaking one or two walls, but if their entire team is walls...I generally forfeit when the match stops being fun about 50 turns in or so.
Clefable can give me issues, as it seems to commonly carry flamethrower so that I can't use scizor.
Random coverage moves getting cheeky kills on pelipper and scizor are also problematic, but that's a me issue rather than a team issue I think.
I want to say that torkoal is the one pulling the least weight on the team. A lot of the time I can't even bring him in for a spin because the enemy isn't something he'd survive switching in to. He does great when he gets to do his job, but it's hard to force him in when I need to remove hazards.
I'm not sure that I'm using the best items on each mon as well, like scizor doesn't have many coverage moves so expert belt isn't doing as much as it could, or maybe assault vest really is better on lanturn, and so on.
And a couple side notes: I know my team only has one actual OU mon on it, and it's really just a bit of a coincidence rather than actively avoiding using them. The only OU mon I specifically would never use is lando-t.