..:: Team Building ::..

Thanks to Annhialator Zero for writing this guide.

Proper Countering

This is the one that really gets me, "I don't have a Tyranitar weak I can OHKO it with Weavile's Brick Break. I can counter Heracross with my Alakazam."

Wrong, wrong, WRONG

A counter is a Pokemon that can easily switch into a threat and knock it out, the keywords being "switch in". Alakazam does not counter Heracross because it is OHKOd by all of Heracross's moves, therefore it can not switch into Heracross, Revenge killing (Letting a Pokemon die then bringing in something that can KO a threat) gets you nowhere because Heracross will switch for their Special Wall as soon as it sees an Alakazam, therefore you have wasted a Pokemon for the express reason of doing nothing. The proper way to counter a Heracross is to switch in a Pokemon that Heracross can do very little damage to and can do a lot of damage to Heracross, the best options for countering Heracross are Gliscor and Weezing if you were wondering.

So when making a counter for a Pokemon make sure you can actually switch into it.

Threat List

When making a team it helps to know if you?e countered most if not all threats, so a list was drawn up of Pokemon that can pose a threat in OU, make sure you have at least one counter for most of them.

- Salamence
- Tyranitar
- Metagross
- Dragonite
- Heracross
- Zapdos
- Gyarados
- Garchomp
- Starmie
- Alakazam
- Gengar
- Weavile
- Dugtrio
- Celebi
- Blissey
- Gliscor
- Rhyperior
- Jirachi
- Electivire
- Hippowdon
- Suicune
- Raikou
- Snorlax
- Skarmory
- Azelf
- Cresselia
- Heatran
- Lucario
- Infernape
- Staraptor
- Swampert
- Milotic
- Sceptile
- Rampardos

Team Construction

One problem I always have is when people post 6 sweepers and try to say it's a team, it is not a team.
You have to have the correct mix, so you?e not overspecialising in anything, a general idea is something like this:

- Physical Sweeper
- Special Sweeper
- Special Wall
- Physical Wall
- Support / Tank
- Your Choice
[for definitions of these terms, visit our "Pokemon Roles Guide"]

If you have a Mixed Wall it can obviously take the place of either Pure Wall, but give it some extra EVs in that stat, the same goes for Mixed Sweepers. My team is structured around this, Phys Sweeper- Dragonite, Special Sweeper- Azelf/Lucario, Special Wall- Cresselia, Physical Wall- Gliscor, Tank- Metagross, My Choice- Sceptile.

This is how a team should be structured, or at least something like this. For example, defensive teams generally drop a sweeper for a Tank and add an extra Wall/Tank in the Your Choice.

Follow all these steps and you should have a good team, obviously using proper movesets and Pokemon (Special Sweeper Weavile isn't helping anyone).

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