Blazing Fist: An OU Team around Infernape

[Bossgodora]

I've nearly ran out of ideas to use for teams. So, I had to go deep. Infernape was my very first pokemon I've ever used in pokemon. Yeah, I started kind of late in pokemon, but I still feel really close to this pokemon still after all these years, so I thought, what the hell, let's give it a shot. This team I invested more focus and emphasis on an offensive and defensive core. I really wanted this team to be balanced and functional, so that was a good place to start. I came up with the team I got now by literally playing around with a team builder, which pointed out type weaknesses. I then battled... a lot. I did a total of 30 battles, which may not seem like a lot, but I assure you, in the past I usually did around 10-12 for testing. I tried different pokemon, altered sets, I really tried a lot with this team. Out of the 30 battles I did, only 16 were wins, so this team is obviously in need of improvement. Well, lets get to it then!
The Team Building Process:

Well, this team is centered around Infernape, so I started there. My offensive core need someone who could check a majority or all of his weaknesses while also posing a severe threat.

I decided to add Gyarados to the fun. He checks Infernape's weaknesses to water and ground, and is a pretty good sweeper at any point of the match. My team still needed someone who completed the triangle and covered their weaknesses...

Tyranitar was chosen as the official wall breaker. Utilizing the banded set, Tyranitar is more than capable of trapping threats like Latios and Alakazam. After the offensive core felt complete, I moved on to the defensive core.

I ended up switching Tyranitar for Jirachi, as I felt I needed a check to Skarmory, who walls pretty much everyone on my team. With Thunder, Jirachi can easily eliminate Skarmory. Now the core was really finished.

To start off the defensive core, I had to start with Forretress. His ability to remove and put entry hazards on the field simply could not be passed up. He also has pretty good defense. But, he added another weakness to fire to my team...

To patch that second weakness to fire, I threw Heatran into the mix. The Forretran combo is great, and he often forces switches to complement the entry hazards put on the field by Forretress.

For the final candidate, I was truly stumped on who should be used. I went with Shelgon, as I seeked something to resist Fire, Electric, and Water moves.

That ended up being an awful choice, so I went with Celebi, who has decent synergy with both Heatran and Forretress. This is where the team is at now.

In-Depth:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 96 Atk / 160 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- ThunderPunch
- Hidden Power [Ice]

The star of the team. I decided to go with this setup to provide as much coverage as possible. I don't need to be exceptionally well at predicting for this setup to do its best, or even rely on sun support, like the Banded set does. He originally had an Expert Belt Equipped, but I wanted to be able to hit everything harder, incase he didn't have a move that was Super-Effective, so I eventually opted for a Life Orb. Fire Blast is a strong STAB move that is usually used, unless the other moves would hit harder. Close Combat provides some more coverage and deals with threats like tyranitar. Thunderpunch is a check to water types, but isn't always reliable, but it's better than nothing. Hidden Power Ice allows Infernape to check a wide variety of pokemon, some of which include Thundurus-T, Dragonite, Latios, and Gliscor. I am unsure if this is the best setup I can run, or if specific moves or even a different ev spread would be better.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 168 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce

Annihilation. The perfect description for what Gyarados does as another part of my offensive core. This setup is just... amazing. Once he gets even just one Dragon Dance boost in and goes on a killing spree, the match is usually over the opponent. Substitute is what makes this setup so good. Once I get a free sub in, Gyarados can get at least 1 DD in, which in some cases is great. That is usually enough of a boost to get a kill and get a Moxie boost. Waterfall hits pretty hard after some boosts, and provides some coverage against opposing water types and ground types, like Heatran and Hippowdon. Bounce is great for when I need to hit hard but have the sun up. I can not emphasis this enough; Gyarados is one of the main reasons this team has won so much.

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Trait: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 152 Atk / 208 SAtk / 148 Spd
Naive Nature
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder
Jirachi makes the lives of its teammates much more easy. He is mainly a check to Skarmory and rain teams. Iron Head could provide some paraflinch support in conjunction with Celebi's Thunder Wave. Fire Punch allows Jirachi to hit other Steel types harder. Hidden Power Ice provides even more coverage to Dragons. Thunder is his main move and can abuse the rain if it happens to get put up. I'm starting to be concerned with whether or not Jirachi should be running this set, or if he even should be in this slot.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Thunder Wave

Celebi is here mainly to sponge water moves aimed at Heatran or at anyone else on the team. Other than that, Celebi really doesn't have much up his sleeve. He can provide some Thunder Wave support and dish out some decent damage with Giga Drain. Baton Pass allows Celebi to flee from Tyranitar or Scizor and not be killed by Pursuit, which is great. Recover extends longevity, which is vital sometimes. I guess I'm unsure as to if this setup is the best I can run or not.

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 244 HP / 32 SAtk / 12 SDef / 220 Spd
Calm Nature
- Substitute
- Torment
- Protect
- Lava Plume
I know what you're probably thinking: What the hell are you trying to achieve with this setup? Well, this setup is EXTREMELY annoying. And most of the time I have some hazards up before I even bring him out. Anyways, the objective is to force switches. The idea is to switch in on something you absolutely know will switch out, like Scizor, and put a sub up. Then, you torment whoever switches in. Still don't see the point? Well, I've seen an awful lot of scarfed and banded pokemon, so this often forces the opponent to change, but, I continue to torment whoever switches in. In conjunction with the spikes and toxic spikes thrown out by Forretress, you got yourself a dirty way of wearing down the opponent's pokemon.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball

Forretress is the most important defensive pokemon on this team. He alone is what keeps this team in line. He can remove any hazards put up by the opponent and setup some of his own. I usually start off with him as my lead, though, not always. Gyro Ball is the best attacking move you could run, at least in my opinion. I was considering switching to the lead setup, since I usually start off with him anyways, but I'm unsure about having any dedicated leads.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[Starline]

Hi there Bossgodora, and thanks for posting this team. I guess I'd like to start by saying how good of an edit your last change to the team during teambuilding was - the whole time I was reading through your Teambuilding Process section, I kept thinking "he really needs a Celebi!". It's great alongside Gyarados and Heatran, and many of the flaws I was going to point out in your team up until that last edit were patched by adding it to the team. Now, on to the stuff you could still change:

Drop Ebelt Jirachi for Offensive Latias. Its access to one-turn recovery and useful set of resistances make it better for your team defensively, while its higher speed and special attack make it more potent on the attacking side. The one disadvantage it has relative to Jirachi, its lack of physical offense, is made up for by the rest of your team (specifically Infernape and Gyarados). Hydreigon could also be a good option here.

Give Infernape a Choice Scarf. Your current fastest pokemon is at 346 speed and your team has ZERO priority moves. You are in serious need of a revenge killer; the team as it stands risks being swept by literally dozens of threats that have speed-boosting moves and strong offensive coverage. DD Dragonite, Rock Polish Terrakion, and Chlorophyll Sawsbuck are just the first three pokemon I thought of, out of literally dozens, which can OHKO four or more pokemon on your current team once they get a boost in speed. In addition to Scarf on Infernape, I would try to see if you can find space for a priority user somewhere else in the team. (I'm reluctant to say Scizor over Forretress, though, since it is currently providing the majority of your team's hazard support. If you change Heatran's set to any of the conventional ones, make this change; however, if you stick with Sub+Torment, leave Forretress on the team.)

As for the rest of your team: Gyarados is perfect as it is now. The bulky dragon dance set is ideal for your team, and if you had been using any other one, I'd have told you to switch to this one. Your Forretress seems rather vulnerable to Taunt, even for a Forretress, so you should consider dropping your least-essential present move for Volt Switch to avoid becoming total setup bait for anything that comes in on it. Your Celebi set is great, and Thunder Wave is especially relevant since your team is on the slow side. I haven't seen Sub+Torment Heatran much recently, but from the description you are definitely playing the set correctly. The one problem I can see with it is that it's not going to help you as much as you would like against non-grounded opponents; however, as you mentioned, it does help your team a lot with choiced mons, which generally seem like your team would struggle with otherwise. All that investment in Speed seems a bit redundant, though, so you could consider reducing that in favor of more bulk. Remember, you're setting up Substitutes to take the hits for you anyway, so Torment makes a lot of those Speed EVs superfluous.


Here are the sets for you:

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 244 Spd / 252 SAtk / 12 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

Some alternatives on these would be to drop HP Fire on Latias in favor of Surf (remember to set all the IVs back to 31 and put 252 EVs in Speed), then use a mixed EV spread on Infernape with CC, Fire Blast, U-Turn and HP Ice.

Good luck with the team!

 

[Iura]

If you don't want to run internals scarfed go Mach punch
Also, um... Toxic spikes or spikes not both, you want SR to hit anyone.

 

[The_Derpy_Chicken]

I like it. Especially since Infernape was my first ever Pokemon as well! (<3) I like what you are going for, but it definitely needs improvement. Back when I was a noob, I used to set up teams kinda like that, based around offensively and defensively pokes, and I got completely sweeped by my friends super fast pokemon like Scolipede. (At least, I could only one find poke who was faster, but he got completely checked by the ever annoying scoli. That was Terrakion.) The point is, you are weak to sweeping. You need someone who can remove sweeper threats from your team. Something fast and powerful, and preferably has at least one priority move. The only other way to stop them would be Heatran (which may not work) or counter sweeping. I have had more experience in this than I would like, though I'm learning from my defeats. Btw, my friend is still a noob, so he will get a nasty surprise next time we battle.