My first OU team! Any suggestions?

[lioncub]

Hi everyone! A few weeks I stumbled upon Bulbagarden and since then I have become interested in competitive pokemon battling. Here is the first team I have come up with. Any suggestions on how I can improve it would be great! Also I need one more pokemon to complete it so any imput would be great.

Gengar (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Gengar is usually my lead. He is able to outspeed many of the current threats and can surprise Ferrothorn, Scizor, Forretress, etc with a HP Fire. He is also really useful against Ground type pokemon who Gengar can catch on a Ground-type move and set up a Substitute. The Life Orb helps boosts it's power so it can 2HKO or OHKO.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 168 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch (was previously Body Slam)
- Wish
- Stealth Rock

Jirachi is a bulky specially defensive wall and can easily take Dragon, Ice and rock type moves that are aimed at the rest of the team. It can set up Stealth Rock and pass huge wishes, due to it's enormous HP stat, to weakened sweepers. Iron Head has a 60% chance of flinching the target to get a free turn to Wish-pass/set up rocks. Ice Punch can KO Dragon types whom it switches in to and has a 20% chance of freezing the target.

Espeon (F) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Psychoshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Espeon switches in on the first few turns to bounce back Spore, any entry hazards, Toxic, etc. It's speed and decent bulkiness on the special side allows it to set up the screens to aid my set-up sweepers. Psychoshock is really effective and can hit hard against walls like Blissey since Toxic, one of their main attacks has no effect. Since Espeon is a common switch in to pokemon who set up entry hazards, HP Fire can hit Ferrothorn and Forretress in particular for a scare.

Dragonite (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Punch
- Roost

This Dragonite is a Bulky attacker who can come in on many attackers, except Ice-types, and take little damage from their attacks. It can abuse Multiscale with Roost and when the opponent skips a turn, set up a Dragon Dance. After 3 Dragon Dances, Nite can OHKO or 2HKO many pokemon in OU. Fire Punch takes care of Steel Types who are resistant to its other move.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

Rotom-W works wonders as a revenge killer and is the fastest member on the team. He is useful as a check to Gliscor, Starmie and some Dragon types. Volt Switch allows him to hit fast and then switch to a team member better employed to take a hit. Hidden power Ice KO's Dragon types. Hydro Pump hits Fire and Rock types hard!

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- ExtremeSpeed

Behind screens, Lucario can deal major damage as a set-up sweeper. Life Orb gives him the power to turn 2HKOs into OHKOs. Close Combat is his main STAB move, dealing major damage to many threats. Crunch decimates Psychic and Ghost types such as Jellicent, Reuniclus (without Focus Beam), etc. ExtremeSpeed is one of the best priority moves which KOs weakened pokemon easily.

What do you guys think? I added Gengar as the 6th member but I still have huge trouble against Heatran, Reuniclus, Gliscor and Cloyster in particular.

 

[~Aeon]

first off, if you use dragon dance(DD) twice, you should be able to outspeed a lot of things that don't have priority. i'd go with extreme speed instead, because you have a powerful priority attack that will... um... ah heck, i don't know if it's important. but it's true. you want to use DD twice so that you have high attack and speed. for you're last spot, you may want to use something with U-turn that can use the momentum from Rotom-w. not scizor, you already have to weaknesses to fire. also, don't use wish on espeon because you have it on jirachi.

summary
dd twice > dd once, but if you only have time to use it once, only use it once
hp ground > wish

last slot could be landorus, or another u-turn user. alternatively, you can get a special sweeper since both of yours seem to be physical. in that case, you could use another volt switch user.

 

[Synthesis]

I hope you don't lead with Espeon, but have it in the third or fourth slot to switch in on obvious set up. The whole reason Espeon is used is because of Magic Bounce, so make sure to keep it at the ready to switch in. I'd go with Wish over Baton Pass every time, unless you had stats to boost as Baton Pass isn't worth a slot nine out of ten times and you're missing out on any leftovers recovery.

Give Lucario Jolly because it needs Speed or it dies. ExtremeSpeed won't hurt everything, but it's okay. And, just so you know, it won't last long because of serious frailty and Life Orb, even behind screens and with Wish support if you really want. I'm not too sure on its effectiveness anymore, but try it for now.

Jirachi is perfect, although you could consider going Defensive over Specially defensive because Scrafty would seriously maim this team as it is.

I'm not happy with Dragonite, tbh. You already have a physical set-up sweeper and Mence does this so much better. I'll edit in a set that will really help you and optimise its synergy with Rotom in a second, or whenever I find it.

Edit: Go with the "Parashuffler" set

http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/dragonite

Rotom's great, just replace Tbolt with Trick or fear being comple set-up bait. Volt Switch acts as scouting and a Tbolt in one slot--more or less, so it doesn't really deserve a slot as much as being able to really cripple the Special walls like Blissey and what not.

I'd test the team out with just the five with my suggestions for now, see what proves problematic, and then post here or get your own sixth member with results on performance. Also, how does this team fare against weather, which could play a big factor in deciding final member?

 

[lioncub]

@soulless shadow: Thanks for the ideas! The only reason I'm still debating over extreme speed is that Lucario already has the same move and I figured Dragonite speed is enough to counter most attackers and it can take most hits if it as full HP. Without Roost, I'm not sure how long Dragonite will be alive. Also, I think I am going to leave Espeon without Wish since it's own HP is so low anyway that the wishes it will pass are extremely small. I think the last spot should be filled by a special sweeper, so most like Volt Switch.

@Synthesis: Yeah you're probably right about Espeon. It's defences are so low that it'd be KO'd quickly if it were out from the start. I think I'll keep HP Ground then because Wish would hardly give any healing to the others anyway. Lucario's frail defences are why I gave it an Adamant nature because it needs to hit as hard as it can because it'll die soon anyway.
The Parashuffler set looks great for Dragonite. I kept it as an attacker since at the moment, my team is more defensive but instead I think I will switch it and then use a strong special attacker in the last spot. I'll replace Tbolt with Trick and see how it works and then Scrafty should be more easily countered with Trick and phazing. As of now, I'm not sure how my team fairs against weather but I'll be testing it out soon!

 

[g3rgni]

I strongly dislike the suggestion of Parashuffler Dragonite for this team. If the team's goal is to sweep with Lucario, it needs a way to weaken Gliscor, not a way to simply spread paralysis. The standard Lum Berry DDnite works just fine for that.

I'll take a deeper look at this team some other time. I will say, however, that this team could certainly use a solid core to take on weather teams.

Edit: I think that Gengar would be good last Pokemon for this team. It gives you both a Lucario check and something to lure in Pursuit users to give your own Lucario a better chance to sweep.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

@lioncub

yep, I agree with hh. dd dragonite >> parashuffler d-nite. I would particualrly sugget using a hyper-offense team if you do intend to lead with dual screens espeon. A hyper offense team has basically 4 to 5 setup sweeper whose sole point is to keep attacking at one point or area till your opponent's team collapses.

And hp fire or hp fighting >> hp ground by far.

 

[lioncub]

@Heathcliff Huxtable: Thanks for the advice! I decided to replace Dragonite's moves with the Bulky Dragon Dancer set of Smogon and it works really well! I also added Gengar as the 5th member and his Ground immunity comes in handy!

@CommanderClownc: Thanks! I'll think about using a hyper offence team. The only reason why I didn't put HP fire/fighting on Espeon was that he would lose a valuable Speed IV. Without it, he is outsped by many other pokemon and can't set up the screens. Even with it, he lacks the power to KO most of his threats. What other moves would you suggest as Espeon's fourth move?

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

@lioncub

the only relevant mon who has 110 base speed IIRC is latios and most latios will also pack hp fire or fighting so now worries there. go with hp fire. hp fire can surprise scizor and eleminate some annoying mons like ferrthorn.

 

[lioncub]

@CommandurrClowncrete: I changed Espy's HP to Fire for now. I do see your point that it can surprise Ferrothorn and Scizor but Espeon usually doesn't do that much damage anyway hahah.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

On the contrary, I have defeated many a ferrothorns and forretresses with my espeon.