ORAS OU Bird Spam with a Twist

[P3DS]

Hello folks. I decided to do some OU training, as my Uni's Pokemon Society is having an OU tournement in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to remind myself of the meta. So, I was looking around for a core, and I found a core of mega pidgeot, dugtrio and latias. To the core I added scizor, keldeo. I then added talonflame, cause why not. A bit of bird spam doesn't hurt. I felt it was more of a bird spam team than a latias/pidgeot/dugtrio core.

A couple of notes with the team: It will be for in-game. So the following things apply for me:

• No event moves/pokemon (Bar diancie)
• No gen 3 Exclusive stuff (I can gen 3 RNG, but only on emerald, and I can't trade stuff over from leaf green)

You can suggest these, but it will only really be for simulator usage
So on with the team:

Spam (Pidgeot) @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- U-turn

Standard mega pidgeot. I used Spam as part of my bird sam core, because of it's powerful STAB hurricane, and the confusion chance is just blissful. Heat wave deals with steel types, and HP ground stops heartan from walling. U-Turn allows me to get out in a pinch. EVs are to be hitting fast and hard. Tangled Feet punishes any confusion spam.

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish

A great support pokemon. It's strong, fast, and can clear hazards for my birds. Defog is mandatory for bird spam teams, while healing wish is great to bring back a threat (Usually keldeo or talonflame). I prefer more accuracy to power, so I have dragon pulse>draco meteor, Testing Draco meteor now, and psyshock hits the blobs hard. The EVs are ripped straight from the smogon dex analysis.

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Calm Mind
- Substitute

Sub-CM keldeo. Man how I live this thing. It can easily set up, and cause chaos whenever it likes. Scald and secret sword for strong STABs, and CM to boost. Sub lets me cause problems to stall teams, it is just so useful. Standard EVs and lefties to recover health

Spam (Talonflame) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost

The other half of the bird spam core. Talonflame can hit really hard, and fast. Brave bird+gale wings... 'nuff said. Flare blitz deals with steels, u-turn lets me switch out relatively quickly and taunt is great for stopping stall, and shutting down support
Switched to a SD talonflame, and I really like it. The EVs outspeed raikou to revenge kill it. Sharp Beak gives less recoil from attacks, but gives a similar power to LO

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 21 HP
- Earthquake
- Memento
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock

This dugtrio I got from PokeaimMD's video on a pidgeot core. It is a really good trapper, rocks setter, and generally is good at destroying tyranitar and other rock/steel pokemon. From what I can see, the 21 HP is to give it a HP stat of 201. This means it takes 2 seismic toss, and then it has a really powerful reversal. Earthquake is a good STAB, and memento is great as a suicide, which lets keldeo set up.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Scizor. It's really strong. I gave it enough speed to speed creep standard rotom-w, and u-turn out, while max attack causes scizor to really go to town on opponents. BP and U-turn gives me a good strong set of STABs, while Knock Off hurts stall. Superpower lets me hurt heatran a great deal. CB is my choice of item (Pun intended) cause it lets me severely damage fairies, mamoswine, and any fast threats

Overall, I enjoy the fact that I have a bird spam core that hits both sides of the spectrum, and can be relatively good.

Threats:
- Electric Types in general: Hit most for SE damage, and literally all have some form of Ice coverage, which stops latias and dugtrio.
- Rotom-w: Absolutely destroys my team. I need a good switch in/check to it. Latias isn't enough usually
- Mamoswine: this guy is a pain. Strong, and with Ice STAB, it can come through my team easily, and I know I'll face one in the tourney; My friend uses one.
- Latios: it's strong and hard ti deal with. I only have scizor as a switch in, and HP fire variants stop me easily.
- Talonflame: I have no flying resists. Need some more

Thoughts:
- I feel I need an electric type. I have nothing to resist talonflame or co
- I feel something to break heavy walls is needed
- I need something that can come in and wall my threats

I haven't got much more threats yet

OK, time to rate. Thanks for reading

 

[Radio_Active]

No need to run speed on Talonflame, run Bulk(252 HP>252 Speed, Adamant) as Brave Bird is Prioritized. If needed, you can run Choice Scarf on Keldeo to Revenge Mamoswine.

Run SD Talonflame to beat Stall, and Mega Roost Scizor

You can, or should, run Draco Meteor>Dragon Pulse so you can 2HKO Rotom-W, and if you want 252 SPA for the guaranteed 2HKO. Im mobiling, but I ran the calcs earlier.

Sets

(Bold=Not Needed Too Much)

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 24 Atk / 236 Def
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Roost

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish

 

[Disciple_1]

No need to run speed on Talonflame, run Bulk(252 HP>252 Speed, Adamant) as Brave Bird is Prioritized. If needed, you can run Choice Scarf on Keldeo to Revenge Mamoswine.

Run SD Talonflame to beat Stall, and Mega Roost Scizor

You can, or should, run Draco Meteor>Dragon Pulse so you can 2HKO Rotom-W, and if you want 252 SPA for the guaranteed 2HKO. Im mobiling, but I ran the calcs earlier.

Sets

(Bold=Not Needed Too Much)

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 24 Atk / 236 Def
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Roost

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish

Yo interesting team you've made. I don't agree with Talonflame ev spread above. Agreed that it's priority spam and hp is needed but you should put some EVs in speed. But Sd Talonflame does make good sense especially with memento's help. Set up and spam. You should change life orb to sharp beak. This doesn't put you on a timer but gives you good power.

Imo mega Pidgeot > mega scizor in this team. With Sd Talonflame you have the perfect wall breaker.

And Pls run Draco Meteor instead of dragon pulse. Latias needs all the power it can get.

Ad for rotom you could combine scizors u-turn and hit it with keldeo's secret sword.

Sets:

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability : Gale Wings
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe ( you can change the evs as you like but ensure that HP is an odd no.)
-Swords Dance
-Brave Bird
-Flare Blitz
-Taunt / Roost

Hope I helped. :)

 

[Radio_Active]

Yo interesting team you've made. I don't agree with Talonflame ev spread above. Agreed that it's priority spam and hp is needed but you should put some EVs in speed. But Sd Talonflame does make good sense especially with memento's help. Set up and spam. You should change life orb to sharp beak. This doesn't put you on a timer but gives you good power.

Imo mega Pidgeot > mega scizor in this team. With Sd Talonflame you have the perfect wall breaker.

And Pls run Draco Meteor instead of dragon pulse. Latias needs all the power it can get.

Ad for rotom you could combine scizors u-turn and hit it with keldeo's secret sword.

Sets:

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability : Gale Wings
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe ( you can change the evs as you like but ensure that HP is an odd no.)
-Swords Dance
-Brave Bird
-Flare Blitz
-Taunt / Roost

Hope I helped. :)

I agree, but then run Roost Scizor as The longevity is more important than power. Same set as above with Leftovers/Muscle Band/ Steel Coat

 

[Disciple_1]

Hmm since scizor here is used as a part sweeper, choice band gives itvthe extra power needed to muscle it's way past walls especially with Bullet Punch and u-turn.

 

[P3DS]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll try out the SD talonflame. I'll probably keep the taunt, and run SD>U-turn. I really feel the taunt works really well. A lot of TTar come in on talon to set up rocks, and a taunt stops them in their tracks. A switch to duggy, and it's goodbye ttar. I may change to roost, but idk. I'll calc some EV spread up for talon. Maybe outspeed mega pinsir. So far, I'm not a huge fan of draco meteor on latias. The -2 Spa has cost me in games, while I felt pulse was more reliable. Also, I need something a bit more substantial to deal with electric types, especially thundurus/zapdos/mega manectric etc... Also, latios is usually a pain for me.

In general: I need some form of talonflame counter, and I need a way to deal with electric types and latios. Also, some form of wall would be greatly appreciated. Any thoughts?

 

[Riahi]

I agree, but then run Roost Scizor as The longevity is more important than power. Same set as above with Leftovers/Muscle Band/ Steel Coat

That's not always the case, He doesnt need roost imo.

 

[Riahi]

You don't really need HP Ground On M-Pidgeot since you have Keldeo+Dugtrio aswell as U-Turn. I'd run roost instead.
HP Ground only hits heatran and if I remenber it deals 50-60% to a Sp.Def one. Roost is great for longevity.

 

[Der Twist]

Agreed, this being a hyper offensive team, Roost Scizor isn't all that optimal. Stick with Pidgeot, or maybe go with Mega Pinsir if you so desire, but that would throw off your physical and special offensive balance. Bulky T-Flame isn't ideal either, the ideal spread is Jolly EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe to outspeed max speed Raikou and revenge with Flare Blitz. Life Orb is also a shit item for Talonflame as you're taking recoil from attacks and Life Orb and that really does mean you lose the 'spam' aspect of Birdspam. Sharp Beak. Draco nukes are also one of the fundamental reasons to run a Lati and I'd highly advise it over Dragon Pulse, the risk vs reward is much more in your favour imo, but it's your choice. Running SD and Roost over Taunt and U-Turn/Flare Blitz on Talonflame is great too, SD is one of Talon's best and most feared sets and one of the best late-game cleaners in the game, I'd highly advise at least trying it.
I'm in a bit of a rush so sorry I couldn't add more, but this is the long of the short of my initial thoughts on your team. Good luck, man.

 

[Disciple_1]

Agreed, this being a hyper offensive team, Roost Scizor isn't all that optimal. Stick with Pidgeot, or maybe go with Mega Pinsir if you so desire, but that would throw off your physical and special offensive balance. Bulky T-Flame isn't ideal either, the ideal spread is Jolly EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe to outspeed max speed Raikou and revenge with Flare Blitz. Life Orb is also a shit item for Talonflame as you're taking recoil from attacks and Life Orb and that really does mean you lose the 'spam' aspect of Birdspam. Sharp Beak. Draco nukes are also one of the fundamental reasons to run a Lati and I'd highly advise it over Dragon Pulse, the risk vs reward is much more in your favour imo, but it's your choice. Running SD and Roost over Taunt and U-Turn/Flare Blitz on Talonflame is great too, SD is one of Talon's best and most feared sets and one of the best late-game cleaners in the game, I'd highly advise at least trying it.
I'm in a bit of a rush so sorry I couldn't add more, but this is the long of the short of my initial thoughts on your team. Good luck, man.

I had forgotten the spread on tflame ;P

 

[P3DS]

Thanks for the feedback. Giving SD talon and draco meteor a test, but I still feel that rotom-w really needs a good counter here. It's the bane of most of my battles. Also, lopunny is hard for me to switch into, especially with rocks up. Also, thoughts on a HP ground relacement. I have 4 in mind: hyper beam, uproar, agility and HP grass

 

[Der Twist]

Don't use Hyper Beam and don't use Uproar, they are complete shit. HP Grass can be nice for hurting Rotoms but Ground can handle Heatrans, Roost can also be a very good option for some more longevity. You could try Latios over Latias, you do lose Healing Wish support but the raw power you get can handle Rotoms very well, few things want to take a Latios Draco nuke and Rotom is not one, and he's also pretty viable mixed with EQ to handle Heatrans as well. Depending on how you run him, Latios can handle some birdspam walls quite nicely, and if you run Roost on Pidgeot then Healing Wish support might no longer be as vital. It's an option.

 

[Albacore]

I agree with running Sharp Beak+Roost+SD on Talonflame, without Roost Talonflame dies too fast and without SD Sableye becomes a massive pain to deal with. However, you could try out Taunt over Flare Blitz if you want to keep Talonflame's stallbreaking capabilities, I don't think you need Flare Blitz too much since most of its are either trapped by Dugtrio or just set up on freely thanks to Taunt. Also maybe run around 170 Speed+ a Jolly nature to speed creep other Talonflame. I also agree with running either HP Grass or Roost on Pidgeot, HP Ground makes no sense when you have a Dugtrio already.

Anyway, you absolutely need a Talonflame counter as mentioned. I would suggest Heatran over Scizor, although you do lose out on the ability to pivot around with U-Turn you get not only an anwser to Talonflame but a better Latios counter (EQ isn't as common as HP Fire). Although this makes you a little weaker to Mamoswine, running a Baloon or a Choice Scarf enables you to check it, and if you're running Roost on Talonflame this makes Mamoswine much easier to handle, besides, you have a great check in Keldeo so I don't really know why you're so worried about Mamoswine. On this team I would recommend a Scarf set on Heatran, so that you're able to outspeed Latis, MGardevoir and revenge kill things in general. Probably an even better option would be Scarf Tyranitar over Scizor. Not only does it beat Latis and Talonflame but also traps them, though it has a bit more trouble vs the WoW Talonflame set. This does make you weaker to Fairy types, specifically MGardevoir, but you still do have a decent check to them in Talonflame. Unfortunately it renders you weaker to MLopunny which is already a huge threat to your team to begin with.

Now, both of these options make you much weaker to Azumarill and Sand Rush Excadrill which is a problem. Rotom-W over Keldeo, this gives you a secondary pivot, Talonflame counter and a check the aformentioned as well as a better answer to Mamoswine and a good way to wear down Mega-Slowbro who looks really scary for your team to handle. Unfortunately, by getting rid of Keldeo, MGyarados and MSharpedo become massive threats. And if you run both Heatran/TTar and Rotom-W you also become very weak to Bisharp as a result so be careful.

(btw, if you run two Talonflame checks you don't really need that much speed on Talonflame anymore. If you run Flare Blitz just run Jolly 168 Speed to outspeed Raikou and Thundurus and Flare Blitz them before they can KO you, and if you run Taunt you can probably get away with just Adamant 208 Speed for MPinsir)

Finally, although Healing Wish is very nice, on this team I would actually run Roost on Latias in order to to switch into Rotom-W and Slowbro, two big threats, more consistently. Otherwise it can chip away at Latias until it breaks and after that happens you can't really deal with it anymore. Also, possibly run Toxic on Dugtrio over Memento, this sounds really dumb but if you can get a clutch Toxic on Rotom-W after Dugtrio kills something it becomes much easier to handle, and can also wear down bulky waters, especially Mega-Slowbro which you don't really have a good way of stopping after one Calm Mind. Spreaking of which, you may want to try out Tail Glow Energy Ball Manaphy over Keldeo so that you don't completely lose to CM MSlowbro at +1, but it may well be too much of a momentum killer for this type of team.

sets

Spam (Talonflame) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Swords Dance
- Taunt

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast / Overheat
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Stone Edge

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Superpower

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 21 HP
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock

Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Tail Glow
- Rain Dance
- Energy Ball

Hope this helps!