This is an application for access to the Victory Road Forums. Despite not being badged, I have always tried to make all of my competitive posts quality, and try not to make any claim without at least some experience on the ladder, usage statistics and calcs to back it up. If I feel I have judged something wrong, I don't try to argue my point for the sake of arguing. I think my experience on the ladder and my knowledge of the meta is sufficient to contribute in this forum.


Here are some of my recent posts on the OU Competitive forums.


http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ou-teambuilding.3499606/page-9

"What to use:

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid/Naive Nature
-Earth Power
-Focus Blast
-Psychic/ Sludge Wave
-Hidden Power [Ice]/ U-turn/ Sludge Wave

Role: Wallbreaker

What It Does: Landorus does pretty much of what you would expect of a pokemon with 115 SpA, sheer force boosted moves, and a spamable stab. That is, tear huge holes in teams that lack dedicated special walls, or Landorus’ few counters such as Rotom-W. Sheer force in conjunction with life orb, grants Landorus a x1.69 boost on all attacks other than HP Ice and U-turn, with no negative drawback. Earth Power is the move that Landorus will be spamming most of the time, and is capable 2HKO'ing almost all the tier that doesn't resist it. It packs enough power to OHKO Aegislash, with the only other pokemon that can reliably do so being life orb Excadrill. Focus Blast does massive damage against Skarmory and Ferrothorn, and OHKO's all Tyranitar sets. Focus Blast is also Landorus' best answer to Rotom-W, a common switch in. Psychic enables it to 2HKO Mega-Venesaur, which would otherwise wall Landorus and Assualt Vest Conkeldurr, which can KO back with ice punch. Sludge Wave has about a 70% chance of OHKO'ing Azuramill, a pokemon that can otherwise force Landorus out with aqua jet, on the switch. It also has about a 60% to 2HKO Sylveon. HP Ice is generally the prefered move for the last moveslot, as it allows Landorus to KO Landorus-T, Gliscor, Garchomp, Dragonite (with multiscale broken), and ironically, opposing Landorus-I that run sludge wave or U-turn over HP Ice. U-turn provides momentum against the multitude of switches that Landorus forces, but wears down Landorus with life orb recoil.

Good Teammates:
Rotom-W and Mega-Venesaur serve as a great teammates, as they can easily switch into Thundurus, Banded Azuramill (Rotom onto Aqua Jet), and most other checks that attempt to use water or ice moves to take it down. Rotom-W also can provide safe switch ins with a slow volt switch. Guts Assualt Vest Conkeldurr is a great teammate for absorbing status from both Rotom-W and Chansey/Blissey, both pokes that hard counter Landorus.

Otherwise, late game sweepers such as Talonflame, greatly appreciate the large holes Landorus is able to open up in teams, and makes their job significantly easier. Band Terrakion hits a similar range of types as Landorus, but hits on the physical side, allowing the two to form a mighty wall breaking core.

What Counters It:
As stated earlier, dedicated special walls such as Chansey and Blissey fear nothing from Landorus and can toxic back. Specially defensive Rotom-W can switch in to Landorus relatively easily and force it out with hydro pump. Venesaur can wall Landorus lacking psychic and Sylveon can do the same to those without sludge wave. Azuramill can also switch in to Landorus lacking sludge wave and OHKO back with aqua jet.

While there are very few counters to Landorus, there are a multitude of checks in OU. 101 Spe, while still in an increadibly trolly speed tier, is no longer quite what is was last generation. Between faster checks like Keldeo, Thundurus, and Greninja, and pokemon with strong priority such as Azumarill, Talonflame (deals 80-95% with banded brave bird), and Bisharp (deals 62-74% LO sucker punch), Landorus often finds itself revenge killed.

Any Additional Info: Gravity can also be used in the last move slot to great affect. The reason its not discussed in this analysis is because it plays entirely differently despite having a similar moveset and spread. With gravity, Landorus attempts to be a sweeper, needs its own counters to be removed, and is best used with sticky web."


http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/xy-ou-viability-ranking-thread-b-and-c-pokemon-discussion.3495992/page-189#post-5283113

"Mew B---> B-. The only thing that Mew can really do in this meta is act as a defogger. However, despite its enormous movepool, its niche is, for the most part, taken up by the combination of Skarmory, Latias, and Latios. Similarly to Mew, Skarmory can set up stealth rock, phaze, and has access to taunt (not that it often runs it). However, Skarmory has much better physical bulk, and a typing that allows it to switch into nearly every stealth rock setter. The one thing Mew has over Skarmory is speed. However, if you're going for a speedy defogger, Latias or Latios are generally better options. Latias has much better bulk on the special side, and its defensive bulk isn't that much worse. Additionally, its dragon typing gives it many more opportunities to switch in. The only real reason to use Mew is if you absolutely can't use skarmory, and have nothing else that can set up rocks on your team, giving it a pretty small niche."


http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ou-teambuilding.3499606/page-8

"What to use:

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP/ 252 Atk/ 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch/ Knock Off
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Role: Support, Tank

What it Does: The most notable aspect of Band Tyranitar is its ability to trap pursuit weak and/or frail pokemon that Tyranitar forces out, in order to eliminate counters/checks that would otherwise prevent a clean sweep. For this reason it functions best on Offensive teams that don't rely as much on defensive synergy. Banded Pursuit can take out Latias, Latios, Celebi and Espeon (who lack baton pass), Talonflame, Trevenant, and Jellicent. Its can switch into most of the pokes with ease as its SpD is double after sandstorm activates. Tyranitar is typically paired with fighting types that can take advantage of the absence of psychic and ghost types, as well as Talonflame. Crunch is listed as it takes out many pokes that can only be OHKO'd on the switch with pursuit. Often Tevenant or Jellicent will trying to take advantage of a predicted pursuit only to be OHKO'd by Crunch. Knock off has a higher BP while the opposing pokemon still has an item, though isn't quite as reliable when a strong, accurate stab is needed. Stone Edge hits even what resists it for massive damage and is its best way to deal with fairies such as Azuramill on the switch in. Finally, Superpower nails steel types such as Ferrothron. It also can OHKO a Terrakion that attempt to switch into a crunch, and deals decent damage to any fighting types that attempt to switch in. 76 Spe Evs allow it to out-speed base 70's with no speed investment, and 180 HP Evs allows it to switch in to Special Attackers easier, in order to trap.

Good Teammates:
Good teammates for Tyranitar are generally offensive fighting pokemon that can take advantage of the trapping of Psychics, Ghosts, and Talonflame. As such Keldeo, Terrakion, and Conkeldurr all are good teammates for Tyranitar. Tyranitar also appreciates teammates that can switch into fighting types, such as Aegislash. Landorus-I also covers this fighting weakness, and can threaten fighting types with a life orb, sheer force boosted, psychic.

Because choice locked pursuit allows for pretty much any mon that resist pursuit to come in, its important to cover any fighting or dark weakness, notably anything from Terrakion, Keldeo, Conkeldurr, and Bisharp. Mega Venesaur fits this description very well as it resists both fighting moves, surf, and can't get its item knocked off. As stated before Aegislash, Landorus-I, and Specs-Latios cover the fighting weakness as well, though none of them like to take a knock off from Bisharp. Skarmory is a decent teammate, as it can switch in and clear the hazards that common Tyranitar counters such as Gliscor, Landorus-T, and opposing Skarmory can set up. Skarmory can also phaze some of the mons that attempt to boost on a choice locked pursuit.

What Counters It: The best counters to Band-Tyranitar are fighting types that can easily switch into it, such as Conkeldurr, Terrakion, or Keldeo. Tyranitar also has problems with psychic types that out-speed it and run focus blast, such as Alakazam or Trick Room Reuniclus. Typically, any mon that runs a reasonably strong fighting type move can force Tyranitar out.

It is also easily walled by dedicated physical walls. Landorus, Skarmory, and Gliscor, can all shrug off pretty much anything Tyranitar can dish out, force the switch, and set up stealth rock.

Any Additional Info: Be somewhat mindful of using life orbs on sandstorm weak pokemon, as they are worn down quickly. However, the reduction of Sandstorm to 5 turns somewhat alleviates this problem.


Let me know if anything needs improving (I'm sure I made a few grammar mistakes)."


http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/xy-ou-viability-ranking-thread-b-and-c-pokemon-discussion.3495992/page-196#post-5297173

"You really should't discount Band-Terrakion, as that's a good way to get destroyed by it when used by a competant player. Band-Terrakion is one of the few physical pokemon that can get past Skarmory, Quagsire, and even physically defensive Hippowdon after stealth rock.

Another huge problem that Chansey has is a lack of passive recovery. In order to properly serve as a wall it has to switch into special attacks in order to sponge them. However, without leftovers it takes chip damage which adds up. In a metagame as offensive as this one, its not always that easy to find time to soft-boiled or wish, and even harder to do so without giving up momentum. Everything else you said about Chansey is for the most part true, but these flaws make it enough to be placed in A- imo."