Power Hour: OU Semi Set-Up Sweep.

[DiZ]

Hi, guys. Here's DiZ and he's going to make a team. I like talking in third person. I cannot try it in Smogon, but PO works. I decided to make a Team of Semi-Set-Up Sweepers. So, this isn't all about sweep. I have only three set-uppers, so this isn't a very conventional team. Changes in BOLD.

Team Construction.

I decided to start with one of my favourite Pokémon, one that I always use in my teams. Here he is, Jellybean, my Reuniclus. (Yeah, he is shiny, but lack of a shiny gif.)

Then, I decided to use two Pokémon that I heard about but never personally used. Also, they have a good coverage together. Here they are, the next members of my team, Volcarona and Gastrodon.

Now, I thought about a good leader. I don't like too much using Stealth Rock, so i decided for a good ol' friend of mine. Here she is, my Mienshao, Babydoll.

I also thought about a good bulky sweeper. And, of course, that I like set-up sweepers. So, I decided about a Pokémon that I already tried and gave me awesome results. So, here she is, Sweet-Pea, my Gliscor.

Then I decided about using other Pokémon that I heard about, but didn't used before. I was thinking that Eviolite users were good, but you must be careful with Tricks. So, I wanted to give a try for Eviolite Dusclops.

After giving it some tries, and a bit of thought, I noticed that I don't have Electric or Grass coverage. So, Waters and Rain gave me a hard time. I decided to try Rotom-C.

With some help, I decided to take out two Pokémon that give things that I already have covered with other Pokémon. So, I'm replacing Gliscor and Rotom-C for Donphan and Latios, respectively.

Under the Microscope...

Babydoll (F) @ Life Orb
Naive Nature
252 Atk / 4 Sp.Atk / 252 Spd
Regenerator
- Fake Out
- HP Ice
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-turn


Here she is. Babydoll, my lead and Hi Jumper. Seriously, Life Orbed, STABed Hi Jump Kick kicks (haha, pun) holes in some teams. With a Hi Jump Kick I can OHKO or at least do sweet damage to majority of the leads around. Fake Out is for free damage and breaking Sashes. Taunt is very useful, but I could change it to other thing, because Babydoll is too fragile. U-turn cripples Psychics, and let me change of Pokémon while attacking. The idea is maximizing Speed, trying to not be outrunned, because Babydoll is too fragile to take more that three hits.

Jellybean (M) @ Leftovers
Bold Nature.
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.Def
Magic Guard
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Recover
- Focus Blast

Jellybean. My favourite set-up sweeper. Almost unstoppable when it is full Calm Minded. He has plowed through many teams. Calm Mind gets the sweep started. With three Calm Mind Jellybean is powerful. With six, KOs everything. Including resistant Pokémon. Psyshock is more useful that Psychic, because of the cross targeting. Recover. For stalling purposes, and recovering all the HP losed while Calm Minding. Focus Blast. Steels, Darks, anything that resist Psyshock, is down with this. It is very resilent, but Hydreigons can give a real bad time without Calm Minds. Basically, if you don't knock it out before it sets up, you're screwed. Unless you get lucky with a critical hit or with a Dark Pokémon and Hax. That's it. Leftovers is a bit obvious, but it is for recovering

Angel (F) @ Lum Berry
Timid Nature
224 Def / 180 Sp.Atk / 104 Spd
Flame Body
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- HP Ground

Annoyingly hard to find a good image in the proper size. Oh, well.
Angel. My main sweeper, and she destroys an (annoyingly (for my opponents)) big amount of Pokémon. Quiver Dance is one of the best boosting moves. I mean, makes you bulkier, makes you strong, and makes you quick? Awesome. Bug Buzz KOs or gives a hard time to Darks, Psychics, Grounds, Waters, etc. Flamethrower makes pie (mmm, pie) from Steels, Ices, Grasses, etc. And HP Ground is for coverage. And it gives an awesome coverage! For Steels neutral or inmune to Fire (namely Flash Fire Heatran & Empoleon), Electrics, other Fires, and very importantly, Rocks. I just have to take care from Fightning types w/ Rock moves, but Jellybean does good synergy. The EVs may be bizarre, but I want Angel to be able to resist physical hits, and with a bit of luck, Flame Body may activate.

PlayDoh (M-East) @ Leftovers
Modest Nature
252 HP / 4 Sp.Atk / 252 Sp.Def.
Storm Drain
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Clear Smog

PlayDoh! I need a better name. Any suggestions?
Okay, on with the explanation. PlayDoh is a very good and effective counter to Rain Teams. Storm Drain blocks Water attacks and rises my Sp.Atk. Scald and Ice Beam have a very good coverage, and PlayDoh also has great synergy with Angel. Recover is my main way of healing, although stalling for Leftovers can work too. Most of you are thinking, 'Why Clear Smog?' Simple. I don't want foe's set-uppers to KO most of my team. That can be very useful against enemy Reuniclus, 'cause it erases the Sp.Def boosts and while they Calm Mind again, I can recover, switch, or just annoy more. Just that naturally annoying. *sigh* I'm so lovely.

Jetstream (M) @ Choice Scarf
Modest Nature
4 HP / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spd
Levitate
- Draco Meteor
- Energy Ball
- Surf
- Psyshock

Well. This guy was suggested by Bippa and King Arceus, and after deciding that he can give good coverage, I chosed him to replace Raider. Also, I changed Dragon Pulse with Energy Ball, because if he is a hit-and-runner, it may be pointless to have two Dragon-type moves. Although I wanted to replace Draco Meteor instead of Dragon Pulse in case that I got trapped with Jetstream as my last Pokémon. I also decide to get out Thunder so I could check Unaware Quagsire and Rotom-W with Energy Ball.

Bulldozer (M) @ Leftovers
Impish Nature
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Sturdy
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

Sorry that I copied it, Bippa. Oh well.
Some time ago, Bippa made a good Donphan set, and I decided to try it. I liked it, so I'm using it here. Rapid Spin eliminates opponent's Stealth Rock, while I can put my own. Earthquake it STAB, and a very good move. Ice Shard gives coverage and priority, perfect for revenge killing Dragons. Or, if I predict the switch, I also can Spin or Rock. Very versatile, but a bit fragile on the Special side.

Threats

This thing is dangerous. 5th Gen gave it a new dangerous toy: Shell Smash. Although Babydoll is very useful. Why? Stealth Rock and Fake Out. So, I can revenge kill it with Fake Out (as weird as it sounds).

Opposing guys can give me a very hard time. Although, if they make the error of throwing it to a full Calm Minded Jellybean... Fun times, fun times...
Stealth Rock chips away the half of the HP, and again, I can try to revenge kill with Babydoll. Now you see why she is useful?

Unaware/Stockpile variants are VERY dangerous. I put Energy Ball on Latios so I could try and pry to KO it before it sets up. Also, Clear Smog is surprisingly useful. I also saw a Clefable with the same tactic, and Clear Smag crippled it. Clear Smog is useful, after all.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Opponent Clear Smog-ers or Haze-ers can annoy Jellybean or Angel a lot, but normal Haze-ers are Poison-types, so I think that a unMinded Psyshock can handle them.

Previous Teammates No Dusclops, sorry.

Sweet-Pea (F) @ Toxic Orb
Impish Nature
248 HP/ 172 Def/ 88 Spd
Poison Heal
- Swords Dance
- Ice Fang
- Taunt
- Earthquake

Raider (Cut Rotom) @ Choice Scarf
Timid Nature
4 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 252 Spd
Levitate
- Leaf Storm
- Volt Switch
- HP Fire
- Trick

So, that is all for now. If you notice a threat that I didn't noticed, or want to help, or just comment, please leave a review. Enough rambling. C ya, guys!

 

[King Arceus]

I believe changing Taunt to HP Ice on Mienshao would be a good place to start. This allows it to actually damage Gliscor and Dragonite. It is really too fragile to use Taunt effectively. If you went that route you might consider changing the nature to either Hasty or Naive so your Special Attack doesn't suffer a 10% penalty.

Reuniculus: No changes necessary.

Volcarona: Is there something majorly important that 104 Speed EVs gives you? That gets it 288 Speed, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what that outpaces. Next I will suggest to change Flamethrower to Fiery Dance. While it isn't quite as powerful, it does have a good chance of further raising your Special Attack. This helps so you can have enough power to get some OHKOs.

Gastrodon: I'm not sure how necessary Clear Smog really is. I've always used Toxic due to Gastrodon's Special Attack not being that high.

 

[Professor Palutena]

Meinshao with HP Ice is an awesome answer to Dragonite, as Fake Out breaks Multiscale and HP Ice OHKOs while you still outspeed. Its too frail to make use of Taunt.

Clear Smog is an interesting idea on Gastrodon, but Gastrodon gets more mileage out of Toxic. Without Toxic, Gastrodon can't do much of anything to Rotom-W or Politoed. Toxic will also solve your Vaporeon problem.

Your team doesn't have much of an answer to Toxicroak. Because of this, I'd change your Gliscor's EV spread to 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Speed. This will allow it to outspeed Adamant Toxicroak and Lucario. Excadrill is banned now, so Gliscor doesn't need to run so much defense. Even with the Impish Nature and 40 EVs, its still fairly bulky.

I'd also suggest replacing your Rotom-C with Scarf Latios. Its a fairly solid rain check, and it outruns +1 Haxorus so it can beat it with Draco Meteor. Let me know if you need the set.

 

[Shadow Scyther]

Agreeing with those suggestions except maybe Gliscor because this team is a bit weak to Dnite so removing defense EVs could hurt. Or you could change HP Ice for HP Fire on Rotom.

 

[King Arceus]

I also think you need something with Rapid Spin or you could easily lose half your HP to SR on Volcarona. Speaking of which, you don't have that on the team either.

 

[DiZ]

Well. First than anything, I'd like to thank you all for your reviews.

King Arceus: Hello. I saw your team earlier, and I have to say that it is wonderfully constructed.
Yeah, HP Ice is a very interesting idea, but if I use Naive means that Babydoll gets owned by Special Attacks, but Hasty means that she also can be OHKOed by some physicals. So, I'm going with HP Ice and Naive. Rapid Spin... The only Rapid Spinner that I can think of on this moment are Starmie and Donphan.
On Angel, I wanted her to be able to survive some physical attacks, because that way I can get one or two Quiver Dances quickly. Fiery Dance is a very good idea, but basically is a choose between boosts, or power and burn. I will go with Flamethrower for now, but thanks for the suggestion. I will use it if Angel has some troubles with Flamethrower, or anything.

Bippa: Oh, hello. I saw before some of your teams, and your team ideas are very good.
Yes, I already recognized the fragility of Babydoll, and I noticed that you already tried HP Ice with good results, so I'm trying it.
The point of Clear Smog isn't completely damage, it is the point that it erases stat changes. Also, Hydration Vaporeon just shakes Toxic off.
If you mean Dry Skin Toxicroak, I can check it with Jellybean or with Angel. Inclusive I can Earthquake it with Sweet-Pea.
Thank you for the Latios suggestion. Can you please give me the set? Thank you.

Shadow Scyther: Thanks for your idea, but I already decided to give HP Ice to Babydoll and to change Raider to a Latios. Maybe a shiny Latios...

Thanks to everyone for their help. Until later.

P.S: Wow. I'm so polite. Naw, not really.

 

[King Arceus]

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Timid Nature
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
-Draco Meteor
-Dragon Pulse
-Psyshock
-Surf

Psyshock is chosen so it isn't walled by Blissey.

 

[Professor Palutena]

Not all Vaporeons are Hydration variants, and even so, Reuniclus can set up on them and impound it with Psyshock.

 

[Shadow Scyther]

But Mienshao can't KO Dragonite if it gets to +1.

 

[MrGatr]

That's true Shadow Scyther (yes, I am posting in VG again )

Vaporeon kinda does use hyrdation (or what ever you call it) for it's own purpose. I'd suggest the trick to getting rid of it would be uses a bulky grass. But that's my two-bits.

I don't see what your problem with Vaporeon? You may need to explain to me real quick. The threat list doesn't help me get he idea. Shouldn't lead storm KO it?

 

[Cinesra]

The biggest problem I see is that you're using Volcarona without Rapid Spin support. This is essentially the same thing as having a team of 5 Pokemon. However, you can fix this problem easily. I'd recommend replacing Gliscor with Donphan. Gliscor's job is to check Fighting and Dragon types. You already have this covered by Reuniclus and Latios. Reuniclus also functions as a status absorber and stall-breaker, further lessening your need for Gliscor. With Donphan, you get the Spin support that you need, in addition to being a Physically bulky Ground type like Gliscor, and having Priority Ice Shard for further help against Dragons.

Other than that, the only other problems I see are a weakness to Gyarados, Cloyster, and opposing Volcarona. You can help this large weakness easily by replacing Mienshao with Ferrothorn. All Mienshao does for your team is scout and break sashes/Multiscale. Ferrothorn can set up SR to not only break sashes and Multiscale, but also help your weakness to Gyarados, Cloyster, and Volcarona because they are all SR weak. Ferrothorn outright walls Gyarados and Cloyster, while doing serious damage with Gyro Ball. You mention that you have issues with Vaporeon and Haxorus. Guess what? Ferrothorn can fix these problems, too, and help you with Rain teams.

TL;DR version: Replace Mienshao and Gliscor with Ferrothorn and Donphan.

 

[DiZ]

Guess what? Sweet-Pea and Raider are going down. I may not like it, but it is necessary. Babydoll is just too useful to getting her out. Sorry, but it is the truth. She gives me some help with bulkier Pokémon, and can get Hydreigon and Tyranitars down. Yes, I'm taking out my Gliscor for a Donphan, and my Rotom-C for a Latias. Thanks for the help. Then I have to go try the team.

P.S: Donphan gives Stealth Rock.

P.P.S: All fixed now, my friends. How is it now?

 

[King Arceus]

The reason I suggested Dragon Pulse over Thunder is to have a Dragon-Type move you can consistently use without lowering your Special Attack. Thunder does help against rain, but I think Dragon Pulse is more useful overall.

 

[DiZ]

I know, and I'm going to use Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor. After a few battles, I also decided to change Jetstream's nature to Modest.

 

[DiZ]

I noticed that I also have troubles with Unaware Quagsire and Gastrodon. Any suggestions? I was thinking of replacing Thunder with Energy Ball on Latios, which also lets me get to Rotom-W, but lose coverage to Tentacruel.

 

[King Arceus]

Remember that Unaware means you can contually do Draco Meteor and it will be as if you are at +0 not -2 or whatever you would be. Btw, since its scarfed if you are only going to use one dragon move, it is better to use Draco Meteor since it is likely the opponent will bring in a resistor or Blissey. If you did end up doing the replacement, you don't lose coverage over Tentacruel because you still have Psyshock which probably would actually hurt it more considering its stats.

 

[DiZ]

Oh, thank you, but it is plainly better to spam Energy Ball. Also, I discovered that most of Unaware using Pokémon boost their Defenses, and Clear Smgo is very useful. I will change back to Draco Meteor.