Gen V Bulky Offense

[mmirch54]

Hey there all! I've been battling semi-competitively for a few years now, but had taken about 18 months off. Been playing Gen4 OU with some mixed results, but this is my first attempt at a Gen5 team for OU. It's a Bulky Offensive team relying on Calm Mind Shandera and SD Gliscor to finish. Nattorei has fantastic support movepool and excellent typing, and can draw fire attacks to get Shandera a Flashfire boost. Crobat performs well against most leads, and can keep just about every lead currently in OU from getting up Stealth Rocks. Starmie is my spinner, as Shandera, Crobat, and Gliscor are all not fans of Stealth Rock, and can provide good coverage for the team. MixRachi is an experiment, and I am still testing the movepool, but Thunderbolt is in over Grass Knot because Gyrados is a much bigger problem that any Swampert, Bulky Water, and Bulky Ground. Crobat tends to deal well with them.

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Inner Focus
Jolly
252Hp/4Att/252Spe
-Brave Bird
-Toxic
-Taunt
-Roost

LeadBat has fared well so far with the preponderance of fighting types in the meta, can stop SR, which is a good thing for Himself, Shandera, and Gliscor. Taunt/Toxic/Roost is your standard wallbreaker utility set, and this poke owns Blissey, Chansey, Snorlax, Swampert, Bulky Waters not named Empoleon, and Bulky Ground types. He also serves nicely as a pivot for switches against many problem pokes.

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Hyper Cutter
Jolly
52Hp/240Att/216Spe
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Swords Dance
-Roost

Not much to say here, this guy was great when I stopped playing 18 months ago, and still kick some serious... He can come in behind Crobat or Starmie into an electric attack, usually forces the switch, and can dance the night away! The EVs allow the Lucario outspeed, and reach a leftovers threshold, while maximizing attack. If I can 2 or 3 for one, the game is over, and tis guy is very capable of doing that.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Natural Cure
Timid
252Hp/4Def/252Spe
-Rapid Spin
-Recover
-Surf
-Thunderbolt/Ice Beam

Spinner. He is just the best spinner, gives me a nice status absorber, and still packs a speedy punch. Need I say more?

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Serene Grace
Jolly
4Hp/252Att/252Spe
-Iron Head
-Ice Punch
-Fire Punch
-Thunderbolt

MixRachi is a fun experiment, and so far I haven't been as pleased as I would've hoped, but I'm gonna stick with him for a bit longer. Excellent type coverage, and with Starmie and Gliscor to cover his back from Heatran and Gyrados, he should be able to leave a gaping hole in every team he faces.



Nattorei @ Shed Shell
Barbs
Sassy
252Hp/8Def/248SpD
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes

Only the latest and greatest new defensive toy, with Stealth Rock and Leech Seed. I was pondering trying to squeeze SR in somewhere else so he can pick up Spikes, but Rachi is the only other user on the team... hmm...



Shandera @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
Calm
236Hp/176Def/96SpD
-Calm Mind
-Shadow Ball
-Flamethrower
-Substitute

Honestly, this guy is just here because I wanted to use him, and the defensive synergy between him and Nattorei is amazing. The Evs are for all-around bulk, reaching a leftovers threshold, as I had a ton of trouble keeping him alive before I bulked him up. Thinking about Will O' Wisp for Sub, and moving the Def EVs into SpD and SpA.

Thanks to Arkeis.com for the Images!

 

[Tibzmonster]

You can only have two of the three on Nattorei (Spikes and Leech Seed from Cacturne, Leech Seed and SR from Torterra, and Spikes and SR from Iwaparesu) There is no way to get em all. In fact, no pokemon can learn all three, but nat comes damn close.

Your team seems Scarf Shendara weak. He can come in and one shot most of your pokemon. Scarf your own Shendara and hope for a speed tie is practically the only way I can think of.

I would give Nat Leftie too, because with no reliable recover, spikes will rack up the damage, as will switching into repeated beatings.

 

[The Grand Babido]

Honestly, you're going to have huge problems with any form of weather team as Nattorei is not staying around forever. Rock Polish Randorusu does also threaten to 6-0 you and you don't really have any form of way to beat Low Kick Kabutops. Hidden Power [Fire] Latios also 2HKOes the entire team.

As other raters have pointed out, Leech Seed, Stealth Rock and Spikes are illegal in conjunction with each other on Nattorei. I think you should remove Stealth Rock on it and use Protect or Gyro Ball over Stealth Rock.

With Nattorei losing Stealth Rock, you need another Pokemon to utilise it. I think a defensive Bronzong would fit really nicely over your current Jirachi. Seeing as how common threats such as Garchomp, Heatran, Doryuuzu, Randorusu and Magnezone, Jirachi is pretty unsuccessful in this metagame, as you, yourself pointed out. Bronzong gives you a more reliable way to take on Randorusu and checks Latios even if it utilises Hidden Power [Fire]. While Bronzong does not really perform admirably vs. Rain Dance it can sponge Kingdra's Draco Meteors relatively comfortably although Nattorei should be your first switch-in to Kingdra anyway.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Sassy | Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Atk / 188 SpDef
Stealth Rock / Gyro Ball / Earthquake / Trick Room

In the fast paced metagame Trick Room may look odd although it can be incredibly useful. Your team is quite slow outside of Crobat and with Trick Room you are able to beat threats that you previously couldn't. A classic scenario would be Ballon Doryuuzu. You switch in your Bronzong against a +2 Doryuuzu. Your Bronzong is sitting at around 50% and you realise you will not have time to Gyro Ball then Earthquake. Enter Trick Room. After surviving the Rock Slide / Return / whatever you use Trick Room. You then break the Balloon with Gyro Ball before succumbing to the Doryuuzu. With Trick Room up, almost every other member of your team can revenge it. Because of Sandstorm Starmie is slower and can OHKO with Hydro Pump, Gliscor can outrun and threaten to KO with Earthquake etc etc...

Swords Dance Gliscor can function in this metagame although I think you should use a bulkier set popularized by Iconic. With more defense EVs you are able to take on Terrakion, Roopushin and friends much more comfortably. 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe Impish, Poison Heal and Toxic Orb, with Facade and Taunt over Stone Edge on Roost. It is a really cool set and definitely something you should try!

On Shanderra, a Leftovers point would be useless. By making your HP stat divisible by 16, you also make your HP stat divisible by 4. This will mean you take maximum Stealth Rock damage everytime you switch-in. You will also take maximum Spikes damage if 3 layers are up. Just Max HP.

I am really unsure about the placement of both Shanderra and Crobat on your team, but if you felt as though they weren't working too well, I would be happy to suggest a change or two. While your Kabutops weakness certainly is not fixed, you should probably try something like Calm Mind + Roar Latias over Starmie to take on Kabutops and make sure you are not completely swept by Calm Mind Rankurusu, which is a legitimate situation seeing as Shanderra is on a timer. Latias could also fit over Shanderra if you value Starmie's presence more than its own. Good luck!

 

[AntiMetaGame]

I don't know Gen 5 well, so sorry if I'm wrong. Anyway, in my experience a Crobat with little Attack investment won't be doing much damage. I'd suggest Hyper Fang over Brave Bird as you are guarranteed a 50% drop in the opposing poke's health. If you do it right, you'll be dropping any switch in from 100% to 50% right off the bat. You also now don't have to worry about recoil and can Toxic things that might not take as big a hit from Hyper Fang.

 

[min min]

Crobat has nothing safe speed tying with Aero and Jolt. Drop to a lower speed number, say 152 EVs.