OU

[jombii]

All right, so I'm kind of new to the battling scene as I was more of an in-game player (you know, Nuzlockes, Vanillas, Monotypes etc) than a competitive one but I was lurking for quite a few years now in the area and watching all these competitive battles online. What made me get into it was the recently concluded World's tournament. Anyway, to the the team building process:

So I kind of wanted to build my team around Mega-Altaria, the only Dragon-type that's immune to Dragon-type attacks. Plus, I had so much fun using it in my recently concluded Mono-Flying Omega Ruby run where I ran it Specially Offensive with Moonblast and Dragon Pulse. Then came in the next three Pokemon.

I knew I wanted a Grass-Water-Fire defensive core. Heatran is a perfect teammate for M-Altaria as it takes on the Steel-types M-Altaria cannot handle and the Poison-immunity is also cool. Amoongus simply because I always like bulky Pokemon and Regenerator is a very good way to just scout in and out my opponent's team since Amoonguss has the bulk to do it. Slowbro caps the trio off with another Regenerator Pokemon to handle the Fire-types my none of my current Pokemon can handle.

Raikou come in as my Special-Attacker and as a good check against common foes like Talonflame, Rotom-W, and the super pesky M-Manectric. CM Raikou can late-game sweep after a boost as long as I get to weaken a lot of Pokemon early-game. Which brought me to my sixth member.

Garchomp has always been a beast in the metagame as it has roles all across the board. I need someone to clean the board early-on so my Raikou and M-Altaria can sweep late game. I picked Garchomp simply because it is fast and it hits hard. With the residual damage from Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet makes me good to go.

However, testing the team on several battles, I was not really impressed with Slowbro's performance and Garchomp is having a really hard time hitting key Pokemon. So I decided to drop Slowbro and put this in instead.

While I lost a third of my defensive core, I am much happier with Keldeo inside the team as I get to have key KOs early game, especially opposing Heatrans. Scald is also an amazing move as I get to cap off with even more residual damage on Pokemon like Azumarill who doesn't really like to have itself burned.

So, for a more in-depth look, here's my team.

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Return
- Heal Bell

M-Altaria is a very versatile Pokemon, despite only having a STAB Return. Once it manages to set up with DD and a few Roosts to get it's health back, it can sweep easily with Return, barring some Pokemon like Landorus, Metagross, and Heatran. Heal Bell is there to keep my team healthy in terms of status since both Keldeo and Garchomp doesn't like to get status'ed, especially burns.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Usually my opening Pokemon. Set up Stealth Rock and go Lava Plume on anything. Toxic is there to spread some status around and Taunt is to prevent Chansey from Wishing/Heal Belling and opposing set-up Pokemon to set up.

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power Fire

Bulky Pokemon. I'm using this for setting my Heatran up especially as lead Heatran are very common. Start off with Amoonguss, bait a Lava Plume then switch to Heatran for the Flash Fire. Spore is also there to cripple some Pokemon for a few turns and/or force a switch-in. Giga Drain is to get some more HP before switching out. Amoongus is a really good Pokemon as long as you get to predict your switches right.

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind

Sweeper. That's it. It goes in and destroy stuff. Icy Wind faster Pokemon then switch out to other Pokemon that can take the opponent off. Or Scald something like Azumarill or Kyurem-B and hope for the burn.

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Volt Switch

Garchomp @ Salac Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Substitute

I'm not a professional in this field so any help is welcome. Thank you!

Also, I realize this team is no longer built upon on M-Altaria lol

 

[Nah]

good stuff

This team and OP is actually fairly good for someone kinda new to competitive battling.

The only thing I see that could possibly need to be addressed is speed. The team's not exactly super slow overall, and stuff like Raikou's base 115 Speed, Dragon Dance, and Icy Wind help, but you'll maybe want some priority or something super fast too. There's a couple of different ways that can be put into the team, like making Garchomp or Keldeo Scarfed, or swapping out Garchomp for something with priority like Klefki or Thundurus, tho Garchomp is also your only Mega Venusaur answer (since it pretty much walls your whole team otherwise).

 

[jombii]

This team and OP is actually fairly good for someone kinda new to competitive battling.

The only thing I see that could possibly need to be addressed is speed. The team's not exactly super slow overall, and stuff like Raikou's base 115 Speed, Dragon Dance, and Icy Wind help, but you'll maybe want some priority or something super fast too. There's a couple of different ways that can be put into the team, like making Garchomp or Keldeo Scarfed, or swapping out Garchomp for something with priority like Klefki or Thundurus, tho Garchomp is also your only Mega Venusaur answer (since it pretty much walls your whole team otherwise).

Oh thanks. I've been lurking a lot in a lot of forums.

Yeah. M-Venusaur is giving me a lot of problems especially if Heatran dies early on in the game. I've decided to switch my Garchomp set with this.

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast

However, it still is not doing as much damage to the rare M-Venusaur that pops up every once in a since a Fire Blast is a clean 6HKO. I just decided that I'll leave M-Venusaur to residuals if it ever pops up. I also switched up my Raikou to a Thundurus

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Since I am a big fan of status, having priority Thunder Wave is good. Plus, it gets more coverage than Raikou as I now have another Pokemon to take on Dragon-types and the M-Lopunny. As long as I don't get Fake'd Out though.

And I brought back Slowbro, mainly for the bulk as Thundurus isn't as bulky as Raikou. It replaced Keldeo since I assumed Thundurus could do the role of both Raikou and Keldeo already.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind

So I guess Slowbro is there just to annoy people. Switch in to opposing Keldeo or M-Charizard X then use Scald. Or switch in to something like Gengar, Slack Off then CM, then proceed to Psyshock. Overall, it's a good team.

As you can see, I'm not really a big fan of speed nor speedy battles. LOL.

 

[Nah]

I think you lose a fair bit of breaking power by removing Keldeo and changing Garchomp's set though. Stealth Rock isn't exactly needed on Garchomp when Heatran already sets up rocks already. Life Orb is also kinda not great on Thundurus when you lack a way to remove SR on your side of the field.

If you still want a fat Water type, Starmie would be better since it brings Rapid Spin, Natural Cure, and more speed, even if it's less bulky overall than Slowbro.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
- Reflect Type/Psyshock

Your original Garchomp set would be better to use if you stick with Thundurus and use Starmie.

 

[jombii]

Alright, I will be going to try this new team for a few battles and come back here again. Thank you!