XY OU MediSharp Hyper Offense (stagnant at 1550+)

[bogoljubow]

Welcome to my first Smogon RMT. This is about the second or third time I have tried to build a rather solid team, something I could reach the 1600+ ladder with.

I chose to go for Hyper Offense this time. The Basic goal is to wallbreak with Mega-Medicham and Bisharp and find a set-up opportunity for Azumarill or Thundurus. It ended out working pretty well in the lower ladder, so I really wanted to work on the team.

Preview:

Teambuilding

Actually there wasn't too much of a Teambuilding Process as i literally threw the Pokémon together in half a minute. With Deoxys gone out of OU (which i actually never used tbh) I started with Azelf, providing Rocks and Taunt.

I noticed this aggressive combination of Medicham and Bisharp in the Good Cores- Thread and wanted to try that out.

They work pretty well, but are frail as hell, so I needed some Pokémon that could check offense in general. Thundurus is an obvious choice, providing Thunderwave and being a special wallbreaker in mid-game due to Nasty Plot.

I have no switch-ins for Keldeo and Greninja, so I decided to go on with Azumarill. It can set-up on many of Thundurus' switch-ins and is a late-game win condition.

Scarf-Garchomp is a very common choice for HO too, but it is just useful to revenge hard-hitters like Greninja, Keldeo or Charizard.

Later I changed Garchomp to Lando-T for a couple of reasons: I don't have to lock myself into Outrage to make some good damage, I can use it early-game, and it's far better against Exca as well as opposing Lando-T.

Suggested by User Merkur_Lampe, I changed Lando-T to Scarf-Heatrn, which is a good status absorber and can also check Birdspam.

In-Depth:

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Knock Off

To be honest, this is the only suicide lead I have ever tried at all so I can't say if it fits better on the team like Terrakion, Breloom, Mamoswine, Klefki or whatever. I really like the fast taunt and Knock Off, but I couldn't use Knock Off this often, so maybe Fire Punch or Flamethrower are an option? Besides, I didn't always use it as a lead recently because of all the Lando-T being in nearly every team and things like Banded Azumarill leading. I really don't want to have a lead dying fast after only laying Stealth Rocks, so I am considering replacing it with Latios or some other Defog user, but I still want to have Stealth Rock.

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit

Bisharp has won me a lot of games, because it gets to +1 or even +2 a lot more often than you think. Pursuit is a nice move for Medichams counters but I haven't used it that often and unfortunately it requires much prediction although the MediSharp core in a way relies on it. However, with rocks on the field, Bisharp becomes very threatening and pressures the opponent very much. Black Glasses are really useful as I can keep Bisharp relatively healthy to be able to switch into a Draco Meteor.

Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out

Medicham is literally made for Hyper Offense. Ice Punch seems to have become standard to hit Latias and Lando-T. At first I tried Drain Punch over Fake Out to not rely on prediction against Protect from Ferro and Heatran. Basically Medicham is absolute important against Venusaur but also loves to spam HJK when Slowbro and Lati@s are weakened.

Thundurus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot / Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Thundurus is a great set-up check, especially to Gyarados and Charizard as well as to Talonflame and Pinsir. As it does forcesome switches early and midgame, I wanted to abuse these switches to find a set-up opportunity for Thundurus itself. Nasty Plot can be useful to break on Ferrothorn or maybe even Venusaur to support an Azumarill sweep, but unfortunately it is worn down pretty fast by Stealth Rocks, Burn Damage, Life Orb recoil and Leech Seed. Therefore I changed Life Orb to Leftovers recently but did not test it yet. Besides, someone in the Competitive Tutoring Room suggested Taunt over Nasty Plot, but I think as long as I have Azelf in the team Nasty Plot is an option.

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall

Taking Azumarill was necessary because I really needed a Keldeo and Greninja check. I also wanted to test the Belly Drum set which seemed like a possible late-game win condition after a Medicham and Bisharp wallbreak. 32 Spe ensure to outspeed -Spe Ttar as well as most other Azumarill variants. I heard someone saying that Waterfall isn't nessecary on this set; can someone recommend Brick Break or even Facade?

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off

This is the standard Scarf-Lando-T, which checks Birdspam quite well. I used to run Superpower instead of Knock Off, but couldn't use it often, so I changed it to Knock Off (anyway, feel free to suggest another move). Scarf Lando is an alternative Lead and loves to spam Earthquake lategame. However I'm not quite content with this last Pokémon. Intimidate is definitely a great adding to the team, but Lando-T increases my weakness to Will-o-Wisp (Victini, Sableye and Mew should be the biggest threats). Does someone know an alternative Scarf-User that can reduce my WoW-weakness? I tried Scarf-Lando-I, but was not too impressed.

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power

Heatran is a great WoW absorber, revenger, Birdspam check and counters most opposing heatrans (Although they often have Air Balloon). Unfortunately it cannot OHKO Mega-Gardevoir, so I am considering having a Modest Nature wihch has a chance to OHKO after Rocks, but this is still risky, therefore Gardevoir is still a huge threat. But mainly Heatran reduces my Will-o-wisp weakness which definitely helps against Mew and sableye. (suggested by Merkur_Lampe)

Biggest Team Issues

- As to most offensive teams, Greninja is huge problem. I have to keep my Azumarill healthy to switch into this.

- I don't have any switch-ins. Scarf Heatran and Bisharp can revenge it, but it has to take some damage before I can safely revenge it with Flash Cannon / Sucker Punch.

- Medicham is the only Pokémon wich can OHKO it. Venusaur will bring one pokémon to sleep most of the time so that it is hard to break through it.

- Maybe one the most threatening pokés, as it is pretty popular in the 1500-1600 ladder. It can set up on nearly everything and I have only Heatran to OHKO it. I definitely need something for this.

Azelf is often deadweight, especially against offense with resistance to Knock Off or Explosion, so replacing this might be good.
The team is too much physically based; WoW will always be threatening (added Heatran, but it still might be a problem).

There are other threats for sure, so feel free to change anything that can help me dealing with those.

Importable

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Knock Off

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit

Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out

Thundurus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power

Any sort of feedback and commentary is greatly appreciated!

 

[Holiday]

I would reccommend StallBreaker Mew over Azelf. It's much more threatening than it. If you want a SR lead, SR Mew also works.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 104 SpD / 156 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Soft-Boiled

 

[Merkur_Lampe]

Taking Azumarill was necessary because I really needed a Keldeo and Greninja check. I also wanted to test the Belly Drum set which seemed like a possible late-game win condition after a Medicham and Bisharp wallbreak. 32 Spe ensure to outspeed -Spe Ttar as well as most other Azumarill variants. I heard someone saying that Waterfall isn't nessecary on this set; can someone recommend Brick Break or even Facade?

How about Superpower? It seems optimal for coverage.

This is the standard Scarf-Lando-T, which checks Birdspam quite well. I used to run Superpower instead of Knock Off, but couldn't use it often, so I changed it to Knock Off (anyway, feel free to suggest another move). Scarf Lando is an alternative Lead and loves to spam Earthquake lategame. However I'm not quite content with this last Pokémon. Intimidate is definitely a great adding to the team, but Lando-T increases my weakness to Will-o-Wisp (Victini, Sableye and Mew should be the biggest threats). Does someone know an alternative Scarf-User that can reduce my WoW-weakness? I tried Scarf-Lando-I, but was not too impressed.

A scarfer that checks Birdspam, and not weak to burns.. Hmm..
How about a ScarfTran?

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Overheat
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
It is immune to burns, while it checks bird spam. I even thought about scarfed Thundurus-T, but then you had a Thundurus.

I think you need a defog/spin user but this is too hard to arrange.. I am not sure about the lead Azelf, but if you replace it with a defogger, you will lose rocks...

To be honest, this is the only suicide lead I have ever tried at all so I can't say if it fits better on the team like Terrakion, Breloom, Mamoswine, Klefki or whatever. I really like the fast taunt and Knock Off, but I couldn't use Knock Off this often, so maybe Fire Punch or Flamethrower are an option? Besides, I didn't always use it as a lead recently because of all the Lando-T being in nearly every team and things like Banded Azumarill leading. I really don't want to have a lead dying fast after only laying Stealth Rocks, so I am considering replacing it with Latios or some other Defog user, but I still want to have Stealth Rock.

I know some mons that:

• is not a suicide lead
• has Defog or Rapid Spin
• has Stealth Rock

First I though about Skarmory, Forretress and then Empoleon. The problem is, it is not recommended that you run Defog and Stealth Rock on the same pokemon. Besides, Fortress and Empoleon is not very good in OU, either. If possible, make some changes so you can fit Stealth Rock and hazard control on different mons.

 

[bogoljubow]

I would reccommend StallBreaker Mew over Azelf. It's much more threatening than it. If you want a SR lead, SR Mew also works.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 104 SpD / 156 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Soft-Boiled

Thank you for the rate. Stallbreaker Mew can do some work, however I think with Mew I lose offensive momentum, plus it is also weak to Knock and WoW.

Merkur_Lampe Thank you very much for the rate. Scarftran looks really good as it can also OHKO Mega-Gardevoir and beat M-Scizor which is amazing. I wil definitely test this.
However I'm not sure about Superpower on Azumarill. After using that, physical priority will nearly always knock me out. I can give it a try though.
Concering the Azelf/Hazard problem I'm considering keeping Azelf at the moment, as taunt can be a pseudo hazard remover sometimes. Of course, I won't always prevent Hazards, but I don't think I'm too weak to it.

 

[bogoljubow]

Update: I replaced Scarf-Lando-T with Scarftran as recommended. I am also thinking of finally putting Superpower on Azu, allowas me to deal with it before it can paralyse me. I still have a problem with Azelf/ no clear Hazard remover. I'm actually thinking of replacing Azelf with Sash Terrakion as a suicide lead, for being able to hit pretty hard and thus not losing offensive momentum.
Some other ideas include changing Pursuit to Swords Dance on Bisharp as well as Focus Blast>Nasty Plot on Thundurus. I do have Ice Punch on Medicham, so I don't rely on pursuiting Lati@s or Mew. Actually, Bisharp can often set-up mid-game andbreak through Ferrothorn or Venusaur for Azumarill. In contrast to Bisharp, Thundurus won't really set-up, as he is at the moment taking damage from SR and other stuff, so Focus Blast seems like a better way to 2HKO Ferrothorn. Any thoughts on these potential changes?

if you want a check to birdspam and thundurus-i (the latter of which you don't really have), i'd recommend raikou. it can run a multitude of sets, all of which will have benefits for your team: av is a nice thundurus "counter" (lol), specs set hits hard (2hkos mega venusaur with extrasensory iirc) and scarf can help against greninja. it's basically a budget mega manectric, sharing a few traits with it. it also forms a nice voltturn core with lando-t.
give it a try in exchange for thundurus if you want (idk)

as for your lando-t, i'd put super power back on it, tbh.

you mega medi might benefit from running adamant over jolly, as that ensures the 2hko on 252/252+ clefable iirc

i'd also say run av azumarill over belly drum, to once again mitigate your troubles with greninja

that's all i've got right now. i'm super tired so there'd usually be more i could think of and some of this might even be incomprehensible.

good luck! :)

edit: i'll be on showdown later; i'll give this team a go and try give some more pointers from what i find, if you're okay with that

Thank you for the rate. Thundurus-I already checks Birdspam in a way, and I do not care too much about not having a Thundurus switch-in (well, I guess, Scarftran is a check.) because it is not the aim of Hyper Offense to have switch-ins to all threats. Besides, without Thundurus Lando-T will be an even bigger problem, since it can spam EQ at some point.
I din't calc any speed stats, so I don't know what I am actually outpacing with Jolly Mega Medicham, but I thought Adamant was mainly the superior choice for Bullet Punch Medicham.
AV Azu is a much better way for dealing with Greninja and Keldeo, but I really want to be able to set-up with Azumarill.

But anyway thanks for the feedback and maybe I will try some of them out later!

 

[blinkie]

Hi, nice team you have built around MediSharp offense. As you can see in my siggy, I built a somewhat similar team and had some success with it.
If you think Azelf is not pulling its weight for your team, you could try Web Offense, with Galv/Shuckle over Azelf as a lead. Shuckle doesn't die fast, while Galvantula dies faster but also has some OK offensive presence. Shuckle also has Rocks if you need them.
Since you mentioned that Greninja, Gard, and Keldeo are problems, web could really mitigate that as then they can all be outsped and OHKO'd. Finally, web has really nice synergy with M-Medicham and Bisharp.
Another thing I noticed, now that you don't have a Lando-T on your team you are somewhat weak to TTar+Drill Sand Offense which runs rampant around this rating range iirc.
One poke that would fit the bill here is Rotom-W. He offers a way to beat Scizor by WoW, easily beats Sand Rush Drill, and can bring in Medicham with a slow Volt Switch. Finally, he offers a decent backup BirdSpam check, as Thundurus has been in my experience not the most reliable of birdspam checks. I know this is hyper offense, and Rotom-W isn't really used that much in HO, but he could be a decent fit on your team, especially if you decide to not go with web.