Da Bess Team In Da Whorl

[kirbyraeg]

This is a really simple team, you're gonna love it.

Strategy: There are only so many Rapid Spinners in OU. Those spinners are Forretress, Tentacruel, Starmie, and occasionally things like Blastoise and Claydol. All the common spinners though can get around their traditional spinblockers, so the point is by trapping those spinners via revenging them you can get spikes up again and do awesome stuff. MagTrio+heavy offense=best team I've ever made in literally 3 minutes. I think this can easily deal with stall too both because of powerful Explosions and the fact that no spinblocking Ghost can take a CB outrage.

Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Zen Headbutt

The real man's anti-lead. U-turn out of dicey matchups you can't explode on (basically only something like leadskarm), Zen Headbutt for good STAB that hits a lot of things pretty well (guaranteed 1hko on pesky lead Machamp in particular), SR on things that can't hurt it much, and LO explosion KO's so many things it isn't even funny. Jolly helps it cover a lot of things better as it doesn't need the extra power from adamant, and he won't need his sash since he's opting for a fast u-turn most of the time he can't get rocks up. One side note: this explosion is so powerful it's a GUARANTEED ohko on shucatran. Too ****ing good.

---
Dugtrio (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk/216 Spd/40 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Sucker Punch

This little guy is amazing, a perfect feed-in to crap that thinks it can switch in on Azelf or use SR and be safe. He's also the perfect way to deal with ScarfTar. I'm debating Life Orb on this just because being locked into Earthquake sucks and is kind of a big problem actually, but other than that he is stellar.
---
Magnezone @ Occa Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 40 Atk/216 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- HP Ice
- Explosion

The other member of my trapping duo. Outspeeds a lot of things and can Magnet Rise against them. Against defensive teams I just explode after trapping a steel, and with LO boosting its power it does quite a lot, enough to easily KO Swampert and things roughly as bulky as that. HP Ice is a filler option, I might use HP Grass here just so i don't have to auto-explode vs. Swampert, but there are no real options I can think of here since his objective is to trap a steel, kill it, and not explode against a ghost. Maybe substitute over HP?
---
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

SpDef Skarm. Very nice to just set up spikes and lure out their spinner. If they predict a spinblocker and attack I have no problems taking the hit, and if I get trapped it doesn't matter since I'm just trying to get as many layers up as i can and trappers and spinners together are rare. Offensive momentum is lost when they come out and spin, and Dugtrio covers blatant electric attacks coming at me anyway and can switch in on rapid spin/electric moves and KO with earthquake. Magnezone does the same for forrey. Spikes are important to sweep later on in the game, and they allow my Mence to get away with using Dragon Claw and not being revenged by something stupid. I'm considering Sleep Talk here so i can have some kind of a makeshift sleep absorber, and considering he isn't meant to last anyway it wouldn't be such a bad option.
---
Dragonite (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/204 Spd/52 SpDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Extremespeed
- Dragon Claw
- Heal Bell

Sweeping Dragon Part 1. His outrage is used on in earlier stages of the game to lure out bulkier walls or scarfers and smack them with Outrage. Spikestacking from Skarm helps a lot with this obviously, and is kinda the point of my whole team. Extremespeed is a nice way to deal with DDMence as well, doing something like 53% minimum, so worst comes to worst I can sacrifice, send dnite in and extremespeed, then force mence to die to sucker punch from trio. He seriously does not need the coverage moves with how this team is styled, and so I give him support options that help these dragons sweep better. Burn/paralysis won't stop them forever! :3
---
Salamence (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Aqua Tail
- Earthquake

Sweeping Dragon Part 2. His moves are basically exactly the same as DNite's, and his extra speed gives him the edge late-game, as nothing is gonna be able to switch in without sacrificing something else. I can intimidate switch on last-pokemon situations as well, which is quite helpful even with SR taking out 25% of his health. Azelf in the lead slot actually forces a lot of leads to attack, so SR not being up is a possibility as I can trap/kill a lot of leads and he can still deal with them pretty well with his super-powered Explosion/U-turn combo. He has the coverage moves because he can better utilize them with increased speed.
---

 

[Wave⁂]

I love this team. Azelf OHKOs the ****ing Machamp leads who think they're all so special. The combination of a U-Turn lead and trappers is great. Specially defensive Skarmory just doesn't die. CB Dragons, though, is a bit weird.

EDIT: You could try lead Uxie with low speed so you don't have to risk your Dugtrio being hit by, say, a Fire Blast.

 

[kirbyraeg]

CB Dragons are indeed weird, but...they're there because the team needs muscle. It's the main way I'd muscle through stall, as with spikes any defensive wall will be broken through (even cress is 2hko'ed by CBNite, and that's WITHOUT the help of spikes). Starmie can't do anything, as if it comes in on a layer of spikes to spin/tbolt skarm duggy can KO it guaranteed with earthquake or sucker punch, and of course if it switches in directly hoping to revenge it'll just get smacked by an attack. Dugtrio is the last-ditch check to things and worst comes to worst I can hope for a speed tie with Azelf since he'll generally stick around until the late-game, and U-turn is a KO after residual damage of any kind. This team is built about sacrificing to the point where your opponent can't respond to either of the CB threats. Just as a mention, Starmie takes 62% from CB Extremespeed, so if it gets forced in and takes some damage from spikes/sr/LO dnite can muscle through it himself.

Azelf's power in the lead slot is the reason to use him. He will either get taunted or smacked with an attack, and it uses that to its advantage. /he beats LeadTran by setting up rocks and exploding, guaranteeing a 1hko. Vs. Metagross it can u-turn out to magnezone who ***** it. Vs. Ttar it can u-turn out and go to dugtrio, as ttar will either set up rocks or pursuit it anyway, so the least azelf can do is break its sash if it's carrying one.

 

[Wave⁂]

Yeah, I edited out the Starmie part when I looked at Dugtrio's speed.

 

[kirbyraeg]

Alright, here's a log of how this team works (this is after a few battles with the same teams so we're predicting a bit around each other):

Rules: Evasion Clause, OHKO Clause, Sleep Clause, Soul Dew Clause, Species Clause
iloveroni sent out Machamp (lvl 100 Machamp ?).
kirbyraeg sent out Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
iloveroni switched in Suicune (lvl 100 Suicune).
Suicune is exerting its pressure!
Azelf used U-turn.
Suicune lost 26% of its health.
kirbyraeg switched in Skarmory (lvl 100 Skarmory ?).
Azelf lost 10% of its health.
Suicune's leftovers restored its health a little!
Suicune restored 6% of its health.
---
Suicune used Surf.
Skarmory lost 47% of its health.
Skarmory used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Suicune's leftovers restored its health a little!
Suicune restored 6% of its health.
Skarmory's leftovers restored its health a little!
Skarmory restored 6% of its health.
---
Suicune used Surf.
Skarmory lost 40% of its health.
Skarmory used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Suicune's leftovers restored its health a little!
Suicune restored 6% of its health.
Skarmory's leftovers restored its health a little!
Skarmory restored 6% of its health.
---
Suicune used Surf.
Skarmory lost 42% of its health.
kirbyraeg's Skarmory fainted.
Suicune's leftovers restored its health a little!
Suicune restored 6% of its health.
---
kirbyraeg switched in Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
Azelf used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
Suicune used Surf.
Azelf lost 65% of its health.
Suicune's leftovers restored its health a little!
Suicune restored 6% of its health.
---
iloveroni switched in Rotom-s (lvl 100 Rotom-s).
Pointed stones dug into Rotom-s.
Rotom-s lost 12% of its health.
Azelf used Explosion.
It doesn't affect Rotom-s...
kirbyraeg's Azelf fainted.
Rotom-s's leftovers restored its health a little!
Rotom-s restored 6% of its health.
---
kirbyraeg switched in Dragonite (lvl 100 Dragonite ?).
Dragonite used Outrage.
Dragonite went on a rampage!
Rotom-s lost 114% of its health.
iloveroni's Rotom-s fainted.
---
iloveroni switched in Infernape (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Infernape was hurt by Spikes!
Infernape lost 18% of its health.
Pointed stones dug into Infernape.
Infernape lost 12% of its health.
Infernape used Hidden Power.
It's super effective!
Dragonite lost 110% of its health.
kirbyraeg's Dragonite fainted.
Infernape lost 10% of its health.
---
kirbyraeg switched in Dugtrio (lvl 100 Dugtrio ?).
Dugtrio used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Infernape lost 162% of its health.
iloveroni's Infernape fainted.
---
iloveroni switched in Suicune (lvl 100 Suicune).
Suicune is exerting its pressure!
Suicune was hurt by Spikes!
Suicune lost 19% of its health.
Pointed stones dug into Suicune.
Suicune lost 12% of its health.
kirbyraeg switched in Magnezone (lvl 100 Magnezone).
Suicune used Ice Beam.
It's not very effective...
Magnezone lost 20% of its health.
Magnezone was frozen solid!
Suicune's leftovers restored its health a little!
Suicune restored 6% of its health.
---
Magnezone was defrosted!
Magnezone used Thunderbolt.
It's super effective!
Suicune lost 100% of its health.
iloveroni's Suicune fainted.
Magnezone lost 10% of its health.
---
iloveroni switched in Machamp (lvl 100 Machamp ?).
Machamp was hurt by Spikes!
Machamp lost 19% of its health.
Pointed stones dug into Machamp.
Machamp lost 6% of its health.
Magnezone used Explosion.
Machamp lost 120% of its health.
iloveroni's Machamp fainted.
kirbyraeg's Magnezone fainted.
---
iloveroni switched in Swampert (lvl 100 Swampert ?).
kirbyraeg switched in Salamence (lvl 100 Salamence ?).
Salamence's Intimidate cut Swampert's attack!
Swampert was hurt by Spikes!
Swampert lost 19% of its health.
Pointed stones dug into Swampert.
Swampert lost 6% of its health.
Salamence used Outrage.
Salamence went on a rampage!
Swampert lost 97% of its health.
iloveroni's Swampert fainted.
---
iloveroni switched in Jolteon (lvl 100 Jolteon ?).
Jolteon was hurt by Spikes!
Jolteon lost 19% of its health.
Pointed stones dug into Jolteon.
Jolteon lost 12% of its health.
Jolteon used Thunderbolt.
Salamence lost 56% of its health.
Salamence used Outrage.
Jolteon lost 168% of its health.
iloveroni's Jolteon fainted.
kirbyraeg wins!

 

[UltiMario]

Just curious, but what do you do when "Salamence used Dragon Dance!" shows up on your screen? It can get in on a CB EQ/Aqua Tail and DD up.

 

[Circa]

Just curious, but what do you do when "Salamence used Dragon Dance!" shows up on your screen? It can get in on a CB EQ/Aqua Tail and DD up.

You be very wary of locking yourself into them when you don't know your opponent's entire team yet.

That's basically your answer.

 

[UltiMario]

You'd have to sack a Dragon for that, they're the only ones that need Outrage to KO.

Also every once in a blue moon a DDMence has DClaw > Outrage. This would absolutely ruin this team.

 

[Wave⁂]

| Salamence | Move | Dragon Claw | 20.8 |

That was two months ago, but still.

 

[kirbyraeg]

Actually, I don't really have to worry about locking myself into dragon moves, as short of something like Weavile/Mamo CB Outrage trumps defensive switch-ins, and generally I double-switch to Magnezone to scout the response they send in the first time I bring in Dragonite.

Even though it looks like it, this team isn't weak to setup sweepers at all, simply because if they take the opportunity to set up, they get smacked with an attack. Plain and simple. Everything that isn't directly able to deal with a sweeper on their own can get trapped and destroyed by something else or will take too much damage on the switch-in. This team really is just "set up spikes, get dragon in, fire off outrage" then repeat for round 2. The ONLY way Salamence/Gyarados/Lucario get a free turn is by coming in on Skarmory and then attacking it or taunting it and they can still be whirlwinded out. (Dugtrio has LO just because it can't afford to become setup bait like that ) Everything else is either fast enough to deal with it or not worth saving for the late-game, and sacrificing them keeps offensive tempo in my favor. Mence can't 1hko Skarm with Fire Blast, it can't safely switch in on any attack because I'm not dumb enough to lock myself into a suboptimal move, and it can still be revenged by dnite or scared off by dugtrio.

The only exception to Skarm dealing with offensive threats is taunt-gyara, but that will behave in a few general ways:
1: it switches into skarm
2: it runs leftovers
3: it will NOT switch into things faster than it

Therefore, if gyara ever switches into skarm, I go into Azelf as it taunts and get to fire off an explosion that is SURE to kill something on the other team, and if I suspect a ghost switch I can u-turn or zen headbutt (which does 56% min even to bulkygyara so it's a nice general option to use after I've eliminated ttar).

Sacrifice is the name of the game here, and that's why this team works: nothing HAS to stay alive. If something's served its purpose, just use it to do as much damage as possible. Spikes+SR punish attempts at switching around to set up on resisted hits, trying to spin causes you to lose tempo, get trapped, AND/or eat a CB outrage, and in general this team can switch around the scarfed threats that outspeed this entire team.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Both LO Starmie and Raikou (with HP Ice of course) would give the majority of this team hell.

(assuming Azelf is dead already) The only Pokes that will stop Raikou are Dugtrio and Zone while the only Pokemon stopping Starmie from sweeping is Dugtrio (fairly sure that LO Hydro Pump OHKOs Zone w/ no SDef investment after SR).

But then of course Dragonite has Extremespeed, which might be able to take out one of the two after enough LO damage.

 

[kirbyraeg]

Yeah, those and other fast guys are a real ***** to play around, but again, LOTrio mops them up nicely. He can't switch in (basically never will he switch in on an attack because he's so **** weak), but this ties in to the idea of sacrifice. I force your hand by using pokemon like Mence and Dnite which would force you down into KO range from entry hazard damage+LO recoil. Defensive spinners don't have the attack power to KO DNite with Ice Beam, and Raikou can have its sub broken by Explosion from any of my pokemon, to subsequently be trapped by trio. Cost analysis is there, and the main point is just that when those guys are brought out for a sweep my team can still handle them BECAUSE of the free switch granted by sacrificing a pokemon, and that if they do something dumb like try to set up they'll be taken down to the point where they will be unable to sweep.

 

[Wave⁂]

AgiliGross after your Skarmory is dead. And judging by that log, your Skarmory dies often.

 

[kirbyraeg]

Hehe. I made a few changes that I guess I'll edit into the OP:

1: Dugtrio has LO (obvious but yeah) and runs 252/216/40 spdef (less obvious but he won't be outsped by anything non-scarf anytime soon and helps with nasty plot ape who would otherwise KO with +2 vacuum wave) and also has aerial ace over night slash because night slash is ****ing useless...
2: Azelf is Jolly (doesn't need the power of adamant and STILL ohko's shucatran with explosion, lol)
3: Magnezone has Occa Berry (too often it comes in and magnet rises vs. something and it just doesn't need the power of LO, while Occa lets it lure/kill off Mence/mixGon/infernape/whatever.
4: Dragonite has Dragon Claw/Heal Bell over Aqua Tail/Earthquake for support/reliability purposes.

Again, there is no weakness to agiligross because everything can either KO it or explode on it (both of which would do enough to destroy it completely). I can't switch in and kill it but I can sure as hell make do with what I have out on the field.

 

[Wave⁂]

Night Slash hits Rotom-A before he Will-o-Wisps you.

Substitute on Magnezone is great.

CB Heal Bell is pro.

 

[kirbyraeg]

The key is just staying one step ahead of the other guy.

I'm gonna post another log because this team makes nice, short logs.

Rules: Ladder Match, Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Species Clause, Strict Damage Clause
BoofNut sent out Celebi (lvl 100 Celebi).
kirbyraeg sent out Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
Azelf used U-turn.
It's super effective!
Celebi lost 100% of its health.
BoofNut's Celebi fainted.
kirbyraeg switched in Dragonite (lvl 100 Dragonite ?).
Azelf lost 10% of its health.
---
BoofNut switched in Jolteon (lvl 100 Jolteon ?).
kirbyraeg switched in Magnezone (lvl 100 Magnezone).
Jolteon used Hidden Power.
It's not very effective...
A critical hit!
Magnezone lost 51% of its health.
---
BoofNut switched in Machamp (lvl 100 Machamp ?).
Magnezone used Explosion.
Machamp lost 100% of its health.
BoofNut's Machamp fainted.
kirbyraeg's Magnezone fainted.
---
BoofNut switched in Skarmory (lvl 100 Skarmory ?).
kirbyraeg switched in Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
BoofNut switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
Azelf used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
---
Azelf used Explosion.
It's not very effective...
Heatran lost 100% of its health.
BoofNut's Heatran fainted.
kirbyraeg's Azelf fainted.
---
BoofNut switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
kirbyraeg switched in Skarmory (lvl 100 Skarmory ?).
Pointed stones dug into Flygon.
Flygon lost 6% of its health.
Flygon used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Skarmory lost 3% of its health.
BoofNut switched in Jolteon (lvl 100 Jolteon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Jolteon.
Jolteon lost 12% of its health.
Skarmory used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Skarmory's leftovers restored its health a little!
Skarmory restored 3% of its health.
---
Jolteon used Thunderbolt.
It's super effective!
Skarmory lost 100% of its health.
kirbyraeg's Skarmory fainted.
---
kirbyraeg switched in Dugtrio (lvl 100 Dugtrio ?).
Jolteon used Thunderbolt.
It doesn't affect Dugtrio...
Dugtrio used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Jolteon lost 88% of its health.
BoofNut's Jolteon fainted.
Dugtrio lost 10% of its health.
---
BoofNut switched in Skarmory (lvl 100 Skarmory ?).
Pointed stones dug into Skarmory.
Skarmory lost 12% of its health.
Dugtrio used Stone Edge.
Skarmory lost 20% of its health.
Dugtrio lost 10% of its health.
Skarmory used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
---
Dugtrio used Stone Edge.
Skarmory lost 19% of its health.
Dugtrio lost 10% of its health.
Skarmory used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
---
kirbyraeg switched in Salamence (lvl 100 Salamence ?).
Salamence's Intimidate cut Skarmory's attack!
Skarmory used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
---
Salamence used Aqua Tail.
Skarmory lost 28% of its health.
Skarmory used Whirlwind.
kirbyraeg switched in Dragonite (lvl 100 Dragonite ?).
---
Dragonite used Outrage.
Dragonite went on a rampage!
It's not very effective...
Skarmory lost 21% of its health.
BoofNut's Skarmory fainted.
---
BoofNut switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Flygon.
Flygon lost 6% of its health.
Flygon used Outrage.
Flygon went on a rampage!
It's super effective!
Dragonite lost 100% of its health.
kirbyraeg's Dragonite fainted.
---
kirbyraeg switched in Salamence (lvl 100 Salamence ?).
Salamence's Intimidate cut Flygon's attack!
kirbyraeg switched in Dugtrio (lvl 100 Dugtrio ?).
Dugtrio was hurt by Spikes!
Dugtrio lost 25% of its health.
Flygon used Outrage.
Dugtrio lost 45% of its health.
kirbyraeg's Dugtrio fainted.
Flygon's rampage ended.
Flygon became confused!
---
kirbyraeg switched in Salamence (lvl 100 Salamence ?).
Salamence's Intimidate cut Flygon's attack!
Flygon is confused!
It hurt itself in its confusion!
Flygon lost 9% of its health.
Salamence used Dragon Claw.
It's super effective!
Flygon lost 79% of its health.
BoofNut's Flygon fainted.
kirbyraeg wins!
BoofNut has left the room.


Not a great log by any means, but it shows you various things about how this team works pretty much the same regardless of what it faces. IT also shows what happens when I'm haphazard with Magnezone (I get walled to hell and back by skarm).