Offensive Psychic moves in OU

[Suicune Rider]

Ar they really that bad? I tried to use Psycho Cut on Gallade and Psyshock on Starmie, but I rarely had any use for them a and replaced them with Knock Off and TB respectively; is there any use for Psychic/Psyshock on Starmie? I just feel the loss of TB means opposing Water-types wall me...do you think Starmie would be better of it was Water/Electric?

 

[sharkshocker]

I wouldn't say that they're bad, it's more of a case that those other moves are also effective for those Pokemon. Knock Off offers great utility to Gallade's arsenal and can help deal with Psychic and Ghost types that defend against his Fighting STAB. In Starmie's case Thunderbolt rounds off the BoltBeam coverage so that it doesn't get walled too easily, as you have mentioned.

However, Psycho Cut/Zen Headbutt gives Gallade a STAB move to use against Fairies that would otherwise resist Close Combat and Knock Off while Psyshock can be used to blast through special walls. Psychic moves also help deal with the bulky Venusaur.

It might be a case that your team has other answers to those situations so you find Gallade and Starmie not having much use for them but I don't think Psychic-type attacks in battling are out of the running.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Zen Headbutt is actually standard on Gallade for the reasons shark mentioned above. You're right that Starmie doesn't need Psychic STAB to succeed, and Psychic is a terrible coverage type, but as STAB it's usually not that bad.

 

[Alexey]

The primary reason to run Psychic STAB is to hit Mega Venusaur. The secondary is for resident Psychic/Fighting types to have something to hit fairies with

I almost always use Psychic STAB in form of Psyshock on Starmie
Helps against MVenusaur-weak teams (which is all teams that don't have a Metagross, a Lati, or a bird wallbreaker/sweeper)
Gallade and Medicham run Zen Headbutt, although no one really runs either in OU anymore (although I have witnessed somewhat of a resurgence in Medicham usage, people seem to have remembered that it 2HKOes everything not named Slowbro irrespective of whether a hit is resisted or not)
Other users of Psychic STABs are Alakazam, Lati twins, and Mega Metagross
Offensive Victini sets also can utilize Zen Headbutt (although, unlike Gallade and Medicham, it has a harder time finding a moveslot for it between V-Create, Bolt Strike, Glaciate, U-Turn, Brick Break, HP Grass, Blue Flare)
Finally, Gardevoir, again because of Venusaur

The only non-STAB user of a Psychic move in OU that I can think of right now is Specs Sylveon, which runs Hyper Voice, Psyshock, HP Ground/Fire, and Shadow Ball/Baton Pass/Wish/Heal Bell; the purpose of Psyshock here is to hit Venusaur and Tentacruel