Hey guys, so...not new to smogon, but my account is barely fresh outta the oven, and this is my first ever discussion thread (just to update ye).
My biggest problem with Gen 7 as you can probably guess is that, like every new generation in its past prime...finding a team that's viable. You have to account for a LOT of massive threats that come out every new generation, be they tank, speed, pure offense, or a mixture. On top of that, you also have to try and find pokemon that balance each other out...how do they protect one another? Did you think of ALL possibilities? No?
So...(and I kid you not) after 4 days of straight losses trying to play on Gen 7 OU (on Pokemon Showdown of course), I've finally found one team that's given me my first win. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but here she is:
Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
So to start off, I decided to troll the fans of "Ash-Greninja" and go with good old Gen 6 Protean Greninja. What I noticed HEAVILY in my losses was that...Gen 7 introduced a lot of pokemon that are either slow and spam choice scarf (heck, choice scarf is on some that don't even need it half the time), or pokemon that just...get beast boost and kill you through sheer numbers. So with that in mind, I decided to introduce a scarfed greninja that trolls people by changing his type. If you can predict what they'll attack with (say a moonblast), then change your typing to any of the other three on your choice list and you avoid the super effective hit! It's not much but it's speed, and the speed that usually helps in the long run.
Buzzwole @ Assault Vest/Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Earthquake
- Leech Life
- Rock Slide
Every team requires a hard hitting beast! So...in that essence in mind, I decided to (risk it) try out a Gen 7 pokemon I was curious about ever since the first trailers arrived, Buzzwole. Beast Boost your way to attacking heaven with any of your lovely choices of moves, people! Considering you won't be relying on status moves anyways, assault vest does provide a bit of extra aid. Plus the leech life recovery sustain really helps...especially after a few attack boosts! It's nice to swap into Buzzwole as well when you're dealing with more hard hitting pokemon (that aren't super effective sadly) to tank some hits that would have killed the rest of your team.
P.S. I also want it noted that Leftovers does work in the event you don't want assault vest. The small recovery you gain from leftovers can make it or break it (just as long as you predict only physical hits for the rest of the fight).
Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Energy Ball
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
Not gonna lie, Chandelure is my favorite pokemon hands down, absolute favorite...however there are more reasons to choose him than to just fan-boy. For starters, the flash fire does save your buzzwole more often than not. You have the focus sash to basically treat yourself as a good old troll. The will-o-wisp does help hinder some heavy hitters which run a mock in Gen 7. Plus, to SOME extent, Chandelure can handle some weak attacks with that added extra 248 HP and sp defense IV's, which can help when you're trying to tank out bug type leech life or Z-moves. Just food for thought.
Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Thunder Punch/Ice Punch
I find more often than not in my constant losing that getting predicted is EXTREMELY easy. Like...holy cow, I find so many people predicting my moves and their score after beating me was just starting...holy cow!!! So...to trump some predictions, I simply slapped a pokemon down that could troll either way. Meet Nidoking physical, a match that usually NEVER has good run ins with predictions. Everybody sees a special nidoking coming so they immediately swap in their sp. defense walls...that's where you come in. Yes, Earthquake does lose sheer force boost I admit but...upside is you get 3 other moves that do get the boost. Tit-for-tat basically. Plus the ground typing does add some extra coverage from lighting attacks that would have otherwise hurt your Greninja, so that's a plus.
Metagross @ Normal Gem
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
- Iron Head/ Your choice here...
I NEEDED a suicide pokemon on my team. There are so many tanks in Gen 7 (plus the other 6 gens) that I couldn't do without it. So, meet my easy-bait-pokemon. I chose Metagross as a mind game, pure and simple. I drag out pokemon that want to easily predict my mega metagross...or I drag pokemon in that think they can tank out my attack...or a mixture of the two...PRESTO CHANGO, I explode! My attack is nothing to sneeze at, my typing lures them in like a venus fly trap, I add in the normal gem for extra damage, bullet punch for extra priority coverage / easy clean up...and stealth rocks considering sometimes you MIGHT get the chance to throw them on the field. I just threw iron head on there because I see more fairy types than anything else, but you can choose the last move on that.
Ditto @ Quick Claw
Ability: Imposter
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
Ditto is purely my clean up pokemon, nothing else. I find that while the other five of my team does do a good job at the fight on their own, I do need one pokemon that can counter those who've set up on me, or otherwise Ditto acts as a fear TO set up on me. So, simply, Ditto just acts as the one pokemon that can be there as your last ditch effort. I decided against the usual Scarf set as sometimes you get blocked into things which leave you screwed. I chose quick claw as nothing more than a 20% chance to beat them, on top of the 50% chance to win the speed tie (provided they haven't been scarfed). You could try running Focus sash or scarf and that's just fine, I have no problem with that. Just be warned that in the event you rely on this pokemon, it's not 100%.
So that's my team, everybody. I hope you at least took a look at it. Thus far, this team's brought me a straight 9 battles pure win and so far I haven't taken a straight loss yet.
I have been thinking of swapping out my Ditto for something else, possibly just mimikyu for the disguise potential, but I wanna see what you guys think. Sorry this is so wordy like a sales pitch, I really wanted to make this team spring out. Have yourselves a good day, everybody!
My biggest problem with Gen 7 as you can probably guess is that, like every new generation in its past prime...finding a team that's viable. You have to account for a LOT of massive threats that come out every new generation, be they tank, speed, pure offense, or a mixture. On top of that, you also have to try and find pokemon that balance each other out...how do they protect one another? Did you think of ALL possibilities? No?
So...(and I kid you not) after 4 days of straight losses trying to play on Gen 7 OU (on Pokemon Showdown of course), I've finally found one team that's given me my first win. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but here she is:
Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
So to start off, I decided to troll the fans of "Ash-Greninja" and go with good old Gen 6 Protean Greninja. What I noticed HEAVILY in my losses was that...Gen 7 introduced a lot of pokemon that are either slow and spam choice scarf (heck, choice scarf is on some that don't even need it half the time), or pokemon that just...get beast boost and kill you through sheer numbers. So with that in mind, I decided to introduce a scarfed greninja that trolls people by changing his type. If you can predict what they'll attack with (say a moonblast), then change your typing to any of the other three on your choice list and you avoid the super effective hit! It's not much but it's speed, and the speed that usually helps in the long run.
Buzzwole @ Assault Vest/Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Earthquake
- Leech Life
- Rock Slide
Every team requires a hard hitting beast! So...in that essence in mind, I decided to (risk it) try out a Gen 7 pokemon I was curious about ever since the first trailers arrived, Buzzwole. Beast Boost your way to attacking heaven with any of your lovely choices of moves, people! Considering you won't be relying on status moves anyways, assault vest does provide a bit of extra aid. Plus the leech life recovery sustain really helps...especially after a few attack boosts! It's nice to swap into Buzzwole as well when you're dealing with more hard hitting pokemon (that aren't super effective sadly) to tank some hits that would have killed the rest of your team.
P.S. I also want it noted that Leftovers does work in the event you don't want assault vest. The small recovery you gain from leftovers can make it or break it (just as long as you predict only physical hits for the rest of the fight).
Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Energy Ball
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
Not gonna lie, Chandelure is my favorite pokemon hands down, absolute favorite...however there are more reasons to choose him than to just fan-boy. For starters, the flash fire does save your buzzwole more often than not. You have the focus sash to basically treat yourself as a good old troll. The will-o-wisp does help hinder some heavy hitters which run a mock in Gen 7. Plus, to SOME extent, Chandelure can handle some weak attacks with that added extra 248 HP and sp defense IV's, which can help when you're trying to tank out bug type leech life or Z-moves. Just food for thought.
Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Thunder Punch/Ice Punch
I find more often than not in my constant losing that getting predicted is EXTREMELY easy. Like...holy cow, I find so many people predicting my moves and their score after beating me was just starting...holy cow!!! So...to trump some predictions, I simply slapped a pokemon down that could troll either way. Meet Nidoking physical, a match that usually NEVER has good run ins with predictions. Everybody sees a special nidoking coming so they immediately swap in their sp. defense walls...that's where you come in. Yes, Earthquake does lose sheer force boost I admit but...upside is you get 3 other moves that do get the boost. Tit-for-tat basically. Plus the ground typing does add some extra coverage from lighting attacks that would have otherwise hurt your Greninja, so that's a plus.
Metagross @ Normal Gem
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
- Iron Head/ Your choice here...
I NEEDED a suicide pokemon on my team. There are so many tanks in Gen 7 (plus the other 6 gens) that I couldn't do without it. So, meet my easy-bait-pokemon. I chose Metagross as a mind game, pure and simple. I drag out pokemon that want to easily predict my mega metagross...or I drag pokemon in that think they can tank out my attack...or a mixture of the two...PRESTO CHANGO, I explode! My attack is nothing to sneeze at, my typing lures them in like a venus fly trap, I add in the normal gem for extra damage, bullet punch for extra priority coverage / easy clean up...and stealth rocks considering sometimes you MIGHT get the chance to throw them on the field. I just threw iron head on there because I see more fairy types than anything else, but you can choose the last move on that.
Ditto @ Quick Claw
Ability: Imposter
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
Ditto is purely my clean up pokemon, nothing else. I find that while the other five of my team does do a good job at the fight on their own, I do need one pokemon that can counter those who've set up on me, or otherwise Ditto acts as a fear TO set up on me. So, simply, Ditto just acts as the one pokemon that can be there as your last ditch effort. I decided against the usual Scarf set as sometimes you get blocked into things which leave you screwed. I chose quick claw as nothing more than a 20% chance to beat them, on top of the 50% chance to win the speed tie (provided they haven't been scarfed). You could try running Focus sash or scarf and that's just fine, I have no problem with that. Just be warned that in the event you rely on this pokemon, it's not 100%.
So that's my team, everybody. I hope you at least took a look at it. Thus far, this team's brought me a straight 9 battles pure win and so far I haven't taken a straight loss yet.
I have been thinking of swapping out my Ditto for something else, possibly just mimikyu for the disguise potential, but I wanna see what you guys think. Sorry this is so wordy like a sales pitch, I really wanted to make this team spring out. Have yourselves a good day, everybody!
