First Attempt at Gen 7 Pokebank OU

[gimmepie]

Alright so I've done plenty of competitive battling for Gen 6 but Gen 7 seems very different somehow. Here's what I have for my first team attempt though.

Satan/Tapu Lele @Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Psychic
-Moonblast
-Focus Blast
-Shadow Ball

Lele functions as a Special Sweeper designed to take out as much of the opposing team as possible before dying. Psychic and Moonblast are nasty STAB moves whilst Focus Blast and Shadow Ball create some great coverage. Lele works really well together with Phermosa and Toxapex.

Zapdos @Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 68 Sp. Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
-Volt Switch
-Roost
-Defog
-Heat Wave

Defensive pivot for controlling momentum and keeping things in my favour as well my Defogger for removing those damn annoying Rocks and the increasingly more present Toxic Spikes (thank you Toxapex). It also threatens Toxapex and is a nice check to flying and water types threatening Pheromosa or Marowak-A.

Toxapex @Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp. Def
Bold Nature
-Toxic
-Scald
-Recover
-Haze

Toxapex is pretty much obligatory because it walls a lot of really common threats including a great deal that would otherwise be big threats to my team. Toxic is there to cripple enemy walls/sweepers and Haze is there to prevent the opponent setting up and to cut UBs back down to size if they manage to get a boost from their ability. It couples really well with pretty much everything else on my team too as far as typing goes.

Skarmory @Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
-Iron Head
-Roost
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt

Skarmory is on my team to fulfil two primary functions. Firstly, it's my hazard setter which is still an essential role on any team as far as I'm concerned and due to its great defensive stats its a setter that can keep coming back and resetting Stealth Rock. Secondly it is my primary check to common Ground-types like Landorous-T that would otherwise be really problematic for my team because I have two Ground weaknesses and two rock weaknesses. Lando's Knock Off is also a problem for Lele. Taunt is there to prevent the opponent setting up/hitting me with a nasty burn/paralysis/sleep or getting their own hazards up. Iron head is because Clefable annoys me.

Pheromosa @Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Brick Break
-High Jump Kick
-U-Turn
-Poison Jab

Pheromosa's main role is to be an offensive pivot dealing some hefty damage whilst keeping momentum under my control. It's second role is to be a physical sweeper and to deal massive damage (which with a Choice Band it definitely does). U-Turn is the primary STAB and also momentum control, High Jump Kick and Brick Break are secondary STABs with which one I use depending on the situation (I'm open to alternatives for Brick Break however to increase coverage) and Poison Jab is to hit Fairies I predict coming in like Tapus or Clefable.

Alolan Marowak @Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Sp. Def
Adamant Nature
-Shadow Bone
-Bonemerang
-Flare Blitz
-Substitute

Originally I had this spot filled by Mega Metagross but that left me with nothing to counter Electric-types with. Marowak fixes that problem quite nicely whilst also providing me with excellent coverage and immunities to Normal and Fighting. It fills in a lot of little holes with its presence and can really pressure the opponent although it is unfortunately slow (which is what Substitute is there for).

Sorry for my pretty crappy explanations. Overall this team is pretty balanced I think but I'm always looking for improvements.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Pheromosa doesn't need both Brick Break and High Jump Kick. The latter causing crash damage if it fails doesn't mean that you should run alternatives alongside it. Brick Break loses out on plenty of power compared to HJK. Replace Brick Break with Ice Beam so Pheromosa at least has a chance against Gliscor, Therian Landorus (which wall it otherwise), and Garchomp.

I also don't think Marowak needs Substitute because that will wear it down faster alongside Flare Blitz recoil. Drop it for Stealth Rock or Will-o-Wisp.

 

[gimmepie]

Pheromosa doesn't need both Brick Break and High Jump Kick. The latter causing crash damage if it fails doesn't mean that you should run alternatives alongside it. Brick Break loses out on plenty of power compared to HJK. Replace Brick Break with Ice Beam so Pheromosa at least has a chance against Gliscor, Therian Landorus (which wall it otherwise), and Garchomp.

I also don't think Marowak needs Substitute because that will wear it down faster alongside Flare Blitz recoil. Drop it for Stealth Rock or Will-o-Wisp.

I fully agree on Pheromosa, I just wasn't sure what else to run.
I'm less sold on Marowak yet though. Substitute has been the only thing that saved it a few times already and I've hardly needed to use Flare Blitz.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I fully agree on Pheromosa, I just wasn't sure what else to run.
I'm less sold on Marowak yet though. Substitute has been the only thing that saved it a few times already and I've hardly needed to use Flare Blitz.

While I understand that Flare Blitz is to be used if you really need to nuke something, repeated uses can take their toll on Marowak if Flare Blitz is used too recklessly (especially when Flare Blitz's targets are still alive and you predict wrong). Personally, I don't like using Substitute and something that wears down the user faster (whether it's by Life Orb or recoil attacks) simultaneously. Consider the fact that Substitute damage and Flare Blitz recoil wears down Marowak fast to the point it can't check/counter anything as often as it would like. That, and Marowak is forced to run Thick Club to hit hard; it can't even hold Leftovers to mitigate the self-induced recoil it inflicts on itself.

Yes, you can use Rock Head to block Flare Blitz recoil entirely, but that wastes away one of Marowak's niche of checking/countering Electric Pokemon handily.

 

[Zeffy]

If you hardly use Flare Blitz, you can opt to run Fire Punch instead. Keep in mind that with Fire Punch you no longer have the ability to 2hko a lot of defensive threats (Mega Venusaur, Chansey, Landorus-T to an extent I guess but you shouldn't stay in vs that matchup anyway lol), but you can still deal with offensive threats (Pheromosa, Tapu Koko, Buzzwole, etc.) with relative ease. You lose a lot of wallbreaking potential, but you get to stay healthy.

 

[gimmepie]

Thanks for the tips, I'll mess around with Marowak a bit and see how it turns out.