USUM OU - The Wandering Path

Question

Hey everybody! I'm back with yet another RMT for you to all hate and downvote! This one I have named "The Wandering Path" because it sounds cool...

Onwards!

================================

Tapu Cocoa (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Tapu Koko I found to be an extremely reliable pivot, and with Choice Specs, its Volt Switches and Thunderbolts do extra damage in addition to Electric Terrain. I put HP Ice on for random Landorus' and Dazzling Gleam for a STAB attack. It's Max Speed and Max Special Attack to hit as hard and fast as possible.

Jafar (Landorus-Therian) @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
I've used it once, I've used it 600 times: Landorus-T is still versatile! It's the Rocker on the team, the VoltTurn pivot, Earthquake spammer AND Mega Pinsir revenge killer! It also has access to Rockium Z to remove those pesky Charizards!

AeroSoul (Latios-Mega) @ Latiosite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Charge Beam
- Roost
Latios is what I chose next for my Mega Evolution! And it is actually really underrated in my opinion! Under electric terrain, Charge Beam is really quite powerful AND is like a free Calm Mind! Draco Meteor is STAB and means I can almost mindlessly spam it after Charge Beam, and Psyshock is for the blobs. Roost for healing.

Twilight (Umbreon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect
Then I realised that my team was very weak to Stall Teams, so decided I need a Cleric to remove unwanted Status and heal up my team. Umbreon seemed to fit the bill, and it is superb! It forms a brilliant defensive core with Celesteela and is also useful for when Koko or Landorus gets low on health!

skyDrive (Celesteela) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heavy Slam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
Then I realised that Tapu Lele rips throughout my team with Moonblast, so I added an Assault Vest Celesteela for the express purpose of removing Fairy-type threats. It's VERY VERY VERY tanky, and kills them with ease. It also forms the defensive backbone of the team with Umbreon.

GFuel (Buzzwole) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
- Lunge
Buzzwole has been very useful. It sets up and destroys things. Ice Punch is for Garchomp and Gliscor, and Drain Punch heals me in addition to Wish Passing from Umbreon. The EVs mean that I can live 6 Seismic Tosses from Chansey after a Bulk Up and then spam Drain Punch. It's Max Attack also and then the rest I put into SpD because it needs Special Defence investment.

================================

There is the team! Please take the time to read over it, and suggest improvements and changes you would make!

Goodbye!

Answer 1

Because we don't get enough high-effort threads here, I'm going to respond to this just to support the cause... and to help of course! I've returned to playing Showdown in recent times, so hopefully rust doesn't lead too much of this astray:

Tapu Koko

• If you run Thunderbolt, your main use of Vole Switch is going to be for momentum, not Electric damage. Due to this it is highly advisable to use U-Turn instead, as Landorus can't switch into it for free.

• Your team lacks Defog -- and while it's not in dire need of hazard control, it could fit in over one of your STABs on Koko, especially if you're playing it as more of a pivot. You can probably keep Specs even if you do this.

• Base 130 is high enough you can afford to drop some Speed EVs and still outspeed almost everything you do at max investment. I usually use 192+ to creep Greninja, though I just checked Smogon and apparently you should use 216+ to get Weavile as well. Weavile is rare and has Ice Shard anyway, so it's up to you.

• Consider using Choice Scarf, because your team is weak to Greninja and CS Koko is one of the only consistent ways of pressuring all Greninja variants.

Landorus

• Standard set is good set. If you've purposefully done Continental Crush to get rid of defensive Flying-types, props because Buzzwole needs that.

Latios

• Charge Beam is novel, and it's probably better on this team than most as it needs Skarmory and Celesteela gone to enable Buzzwole. Otherwise though, the same mons still wall Lati and the same mons still outspeed Lati. Really consider Earthquake for targets like Mawile, Magearna and Heatran.

• Using Buzzwole as a sole win condition is questionable, as that Pokemon can require very extensive setup to sweep. In this slot, I'd consider something like Charizard X or defensive Volcarona, as these give you another way to win and a game plan against stall. However, the latter necessitates Defog.

• I'm not sure if Roost disables Levitate, but use Recover instead just in case lol.

Umbreon

• This Pokemon will make it harder for stall to break you, but it's not actually doing much to hit back. I guarantee you'll lose to stall every time because your only win condition is Buzzwole, which is deleted by Sableye, Skarmory, Clefable, Magearna, Celesteela and Toxapex -- at least two of which will appear on every stall team. Again, I recommend a secondary win condition that can fight stall.

• Umbreon as a whole is not a good pick in OU, as it gets hurt by omnipresent Fairy-types, and how many of the physical attackers it ought to wall are Fighting-type. I rather SpDef Toxapex here as it gives you another way to block fairies for Buzzwole, and a check for offensive Pokemon like Blacephalon, Volcarona and Diancie which your team is weak to. Having a bulky Steel type on the team like you do helps Toxapex deal with Tapu Lele.

Celesteela

• If it was me playing this team, I'd be tossing and turning over whether to run Magearna here. It sucks up a lot less momentum than Celesteela, has a greater offensive presence and works better with AV, but it gives you a big Landorus and Garchomp problem. Consider having a play around with this.

• Not a fan of offensive Celesteela. The name of the game is shutting down Pokemon that threaten your win condition/s, and SpDef Leech Seed + Protect is the way to do that here. Celesteela doesn't actually need to have HP Ice and Air Slash to beat the Pokemon it does, as its typing alone does the work. You might as well run the support moves with Leftovers to increase Celesteela’s longevity.

Buzzwole

• Bug is a really poor offensive typing. Lunge doesn't let you hit much in OU that Drain Punch and Ice Punch can't except Mew and Reuniclus (both of which can really hurt Buzzwole regardless). I highly recommend using Roost here as it makes Buzzwole far more survivable, and affords its use throughout the game as you wouldn’t need to keep it as healthy for a late-game sweep.

• I'd be running Def not SpD. It is not worth trying to salvage 53 base Special Defence -- it's exploitable no matter what you do to help. Buzzwole can actually bother a few physical attackers (such as Kartana and Scizor) using its defensive typing, so I'd capitalise on that instead.

Comments

Could I also use a scarf Landorus to check ash-gren?

Jafar (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf  
Ability: Intimidate  
Shiny: Yes  
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Earthquake  
- Stone Edge  
- U-turn  
- Defog

---

I think the Problem with Scarfed Landorus-T against Greninja is that it can't switch in to Gren, is more anticipated than Scarfed Koko, and can lose out or die if Greninja has Water Shuriken. :P

---

Ah ok. To be honest, I'm in the process of trialling Magearna, and tbh it's much more useful, albeit with a more offensive set (calm mind Steelium Z)

---

Specs Koko can definitely win against offence teams, but I tend to view choice-locked Pokemon in more defined roles than as a wincon. Sweeping off one move doesn't happen a lot in my experience, but if you find it works that's cool as well. I haven't tried Charge Beam, but I think standard setup options like DD and QD are just sturdier ways to win a game. Again these are just my thoughts, do what you will with em. Glad Magearna is working out though.
As Staka mentioned, CS Lando doesn't really do much against Greninja, especially when Greninja itself likes to run Scarf too. If you prefer the Z-Move on Magearna, I guess Leftovers works for Lando as well.