At a glance:
Core Pokemon:
This team began with the desire of using these two Pokemon. The set I wanted to use for Kangaskhan was a specially defensive Parental Seismic Toss set. Yveltal was a little harder to choose a set for. Yveltal was amazing stat distribution, but the problem is that it's got small coverage. However, it does have Dark Aura boosting it's Dark Pulse, which hits like a truck. It's also got a choice between Oblivion Wing and Hurricane, forcing the usage of Kyogre. O-Wing healing 75% damage makes the Life Orb set very nice to look at, especially if I can't fit Kyogre.
Countering the counters:
The first Pokemon that came to mind when looking at counters are listed here. Aside from Arceus-Fighting, all of Kangaskhan's counters were physically offensive, and all of its counters were fighting types. Giratina was the perfect counter for anything that Yveltal didn't already counter.
Yveltal was a bit harder to choose counters for its counters. The three most immediate threats were Kyogre, Kyurem, and Xerneas. Kyogre can be crippled by Kangaskhan, if it's an offensive choice scarf set. Specially defensive Kyogre needs 3 Surfs to KO Kangaskhan, making it a hard counter to that set.
Kyurem White, however, was a scarier monster to fight. With Kyurem White, I can set up on it by sacrificing something to get a clean switch into Xerneas. Switching in Xerneas clean, I can set up a Geomancy which will cause me to only take 45% max from specs Kyurem White. Kyurem White went from threat to set-up fodder.
Xerneas is so powerful that, as far as I've heard, Geomancy Power Herb was being talked about being banned from Ubers. Yea, thats enough said. Scizor can switch in on a Geomancy, and hit a banded Bullet Punch on Xerneas. It's got a 6% chance to OHKO, but it will leave it low enough that, at minimum, Yveltal can revenge kill with Sucker Punch. If the Sucker Punch is predicted, the Xerneas can't do anything. If it switches, it loses its Geomancy boost. If it goes for Geomancy to avoid the punch, it dies to anything on the following turn.
Rounding out the edges
Here's the fun part. At this point, I noticed I had a bit of a weakness to Dialga. While most are defensive, a specially offensive one will wreck my face. Xerneas? Flash Cannon. Giratina? Draco Meteor. Kangaskhan can tank the hits that arent specs. Specs 2HKOs guaranteed, and Life Orb can 2HKO with decent damage rolls. Yveltal can be OHKO'd by Life Orb Draco as well. Scizor can take a hit, but what the hell can it do back? Scizor gets outspeed and Fire Blast from a Life Orb Dialga does 264%+ to a 252 HP Scizor. I have a 30% chance to avoid, and then a 43.8% to OHKO with Superpower. Anyone who doesn't wanna do the math, thats a 13% chance to counter with Scizor if Dialga is Life Orbed. With 2 minimum rolls, Dialga literally barely 2HKOs with Draco Meteor.
Now at this point, I was giving myself a headache looking for a Dialga counter. I was talking to MapCrimsonCobra from YouTube over Skype about this. I showed him my team, and he told me to use Blissey with Red Card to counter Xerneas. The conversation is located here. The Blissey set was created just for Xerneas. However, I now had a counter for Xerneas, and a counter for Dialga.
Looking at my team, I have a few weaknesses here. The first one that I tackled was steel types that counter Xerneas. I also have no physical attackers on this team. As a result, I decided Ho-Oh was a great option. Specific Pokemon I wanted to counter were Genesect and Scizor, which Ho-Oh can easily not only OHKO, but just destroys with Sacred Fire and Choice Band.
Changes round 1 (2014/4/18, 0916 EST):
Crimz came up with the idea of switching Blissey for Deoxys-D while I was writing up this post. I have since been testing Deoxys D, and it works exceptionally well. Deoxys D lives a +2 Moonblast and forces Xernies out with the red card. On top of that, it's got access to entry hazards in Spikes, which have seemed to be more useful than Rocks in my experience. With Recover and Seismic Toss to do be the back-up special wall, Deoxys-D has filled in very well.
Without realizing I had access to Defog on Giratina (I was going to use Defog on Ho-Oh, but it can't get both Defog and Regenerator), I decided Ho-Oh was the weakest link and was a last minute throw on anyway in all honesty. Ho-Oh was there to counter scarf'd Genesect, but even Expert Belt or Life Orb Genesect laughs as it outspeeds it anyway. My first though was Blaziken, but it's pretty slow. At +1, I've had my Blaziken outsped by Mewtwo on several occasions, and it needs to hit +2 to outspeed Scarf Genesect. Then I thought about Infernape, and my issue went from speed to power: Scarf'd Close Combat doesn't even OHKO Arceus with Adamant Nature. Both weren't viable for this team. Im not sure what spawned the idea of Mewtwo, but with the incredible base 130 speed, 159 Special Attack, and the extremely diverse movepool, Mewtwo is perfect. Modest Mewtwo outspeeds Jolly/Naive Genesect, and with them both being Scarf, guarantees I'll OHKO with Flamethrower. So far, Mewtwo has proven a great asset to my team.
The move sets:
Invasion (Deoxys-Defense) @ Red Card
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
- Spikes
666 (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar
- Dragon Claw
- Shadow Sneak
Mama Bear (Kangaskhan) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Wish
- Protect
- Crunch
Genetics (Mewtwo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Flamethrower
- Psystrike
- Ice Beam
Bambi (Xerneas) @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
GOD (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 56 Atk / 200 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
All the movesets were explained above, so I feel I don't need to reiterate myself here.
Threats:
Xerneas is still a major threat, because it can carry Psyshock. To be honest, I dont know why no one carries Psyshock. They tend to carry Thunderbolt, as far as I can tell, and I have no godly idea why. However, if they do, my counter is destroyed.
As of the first change, Xerneas is no longer a threat.
While not a serious weakness of the team, between how little it's seen and that it's more of an annoyance than a weakness, I've found Defensive Foul Play Yveltal with Rocky Helmet is a problem. However, I haven't seen one since switching Ho-Oh for Mewtwo, whom can be OHKO 62% of the time from Foul Play with 0 atk IVs (a change that's forgotten in this post, but is current on Showdown, just laziness). Modest Mewtwo, however, 2HKO's Yveltal, so it's not a good counter.
This team uses two Pokemon weak to Stealth Rocks in Ho-Oh, which packs Regenerator, and Yveltal, which packs Oblivion Wing, both allowing for recovery. However, due to the weaknesses, I'd prefer a way of destroying Stealth Rock.
As of the first change, Stealth Rocks are not as big of a problem as they were, but are still a slight concern.
Other potential teammates:
Deoxys Defense can take the place of Blissey, resisting the Psyshock from Xerneas, as well as having access to Spikes and/or Stealth Rock. I am currently testing Deoxys-D over Blissey.
As of the first change to the team, Deoxys-D has replaced Blissey.
Not a new teammate, but a different moveset, I'm thinking of switching out Shadow Sneak with Rest for recovery on Giratina. Im not sure of the reliability of Rest without Sleep Talk, and I lack the room for Sleep Talk unless I want to get walled even worse by taunt. With Fairies running around, Dragon Tail is now inferior to Roar, even more than it was in generation 5, because it's stopped by both Substitute and Fairy types, so I need Dragon Claw for damage.
Again, not a new teammate, but this time an EV change for Xerneas. I remember in generation 5, Scarf Dark Void was a thing, but I dont think it's been a thing so far this generation. Until I can get a little more research on it, I do want to keep Xerneas with enough speed to be able to outspeed Scarf'd Darkrai after a Geomancy. However, if Scarf Dark Void is no longer a thing this generation, then I only need 44 or 48 (need to double check) speed EVs to outspeed Scarf'd Genesect, as well as Mega Gengar, keeping said mon from revenge-killing me.
Exported team:
http://pastebin.com/dphrPCgw
Core Pokemon:
This team began with the desire of using these two Pokemon. The set I wanted to use for Kangaskhan was a specially defensive Parental Seismic Toss set. Yveltal was a little harder to choose a set for. Yveltal was amazing stat distribution, but the problem is that it's got small coverage. However, it does have Dark Aura boosting it's Dark Pulse, which hits like a truck. It's also got a choice between Oblivion Wing and Hurricane, forcing the usage of Kyogre. O-Wing healing 75% damage makes the Life Orb set very nice to look at, especially if I can't fit Kyogre.
Countering the counters:
The first Pokemon that came to mind when looking at counters are listed here. Aside from Arceus-Fighting, all of Kangaskhan's counters were physically offensive, and all of its counters were fighting types. Giratina was the perfect counter for anything that Yveltal didn't already counter.
Yveltal was a bit harder to choose counters for its counters. The three most immediate threats were Kyogre, Kyurem, and Xerneas. Kyogre can be crippled by Kangaskhan, if it's an offensive choice scarf set. Specially defensive Kyogre needs 3 Surfs to KO Kangaskhan, making it a hard counter to that set.
Kyurem White, however, was a scarier monster to fight. With Kyurem White, I can set up on it by sacrificing something to get a clean switch into Xerneas. Switching in Xerneas clean, I can set up a Geomancy which will cause me to only take 45% max from specs Kyurem White. Kyurem White went from threat to set-up fodder.
Xerneas is so powerful that, as far as I've heard, Geomancy Power Herb was being talked about being banned from Ubers. Yea, thats enough said. Scizor can switch in on a Geomancy, and hit a banded Bullet Punch on Xerneas. It's got a 6% chance to OHKO, but it will leave it low enough that, at minimum, Yveltal can revenge kill with Sucker Punch. If the Sucker Punch is predicted, the Xerneas can't do anything. If it switches, it loses its Geomancy boost. If it goes for Geomancy to avoid the punch, it dies to anything on the following turn.
Rounding out the edges
Here's the fun part. At this point, I noticed I had a bit of a weakness to Dialga. While most are defensive, a specially offensive one will wreck my face. Xerneas? Flash Cannon. Giratina? Draco Meteor. Kangaskhan can tank the hits that arent specs. Specs 2HKOs guaranteed, and Life Orb can 2HKO with decent damage rolls. Yveltal can be OHKO'd by Life Orb Draco as well. Scizor can take a hit, but what the hell can it do back? Scizor gets outspeed and Fire Blast from a Life Orb Dialga does 264%+ to a 252 HP Scizor. I have a 30% chance to avoid, and then a 43.8% to OHKO with Superpower. Anyone who doesn't wanna do the math, thats a 13% chance to counter with Scizor if Dialga is Life Orbed. With 2 minimum rolls, Dialga literally barely 2HKOs with Draco Meteor.
Now at this point, I was giving myself a headache looking for a Dialga counter. I was talking to MapCrimsonCobra from YouTube over Skype about this. I showed him my team, and he told me to use Blissey with Red Card to counter Xerneas. The conversation is located here. The Blissey set was created just for Xerneas. However, I now had a counter for Xerneas, and a counter for Dialga.
Looking at my team, I have a few weaknesses here. The first one that I tackled was steel types that counter Xerneas. I also have no physical attackers on this team. As a result, I decided Ho-Oh was a great option. Specific Pokemon I wanted to counter were Genesect and Scizor, which Ho-Oh can easily not only OHKO, but just destroys with Sacred Fire and Choice Band.
Changes round 1 (2014/4/18, 0916 EST):
Crimz came up with the idea of switching Blissey for Deoxys-D while I was writing up this post. I have since been testing Deoxys D, and it works exceptionally well. Deoxys D lives a +2 Moonblast and forces Xernies out with the red card. On top of that, it's got access to entry hazards in Spikes, which have seemed to be more useful than Rocks in my experience. With Recover and Seismic Toss to do be the back-up special wall, Deoxys-D has filled in very well.
Without realizing I had access to Defog on Giratina (I was going to use Defog on Ho-Oh, but it can't get both Defog and Regenerator), I decided Ho-Oh was the weakest link and was a last minute throw on anyway in all honesty. Ho-Oh was there to counter scarf'd Genesect, but even Expert Belt or Life Orb Genesect laughs as it outspeeds it anyway. My first though was Blaziken, but it's pretty slow. At +1, I've had my Blaziken outsped by Mewtwo on several occasions, and it needs to hit +2 to outspeed Scarf Genesect. Then I thought about Infernape, and my issue went from speed to power: Scarf'd Close Combat doesn't even OHKO Arceus with Adamant Nature. Both weren't viable for this team. Im not sure what spawned the idea of Mewtwo, but with the incredible base 130 speed, 159 Special Attack, and the extremely diverse movepool, Mewtwo is perfect. Modest Mewtwo outspeeds Jolly/Naive Genesect, and with them both being Scarf, guarantees I'll OHKO with Flamethrower. So far, Mewtwo has proven a great asset to my team.
The move sets:
Invasion (Deoxys-Defense) @ Red Card
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
- Spikes
666 (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar
- Dragon Claw
- Shadow Sneak
Mama Bear (Kangaskhan) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Wish
- Protect
- Crunch
Genetics (Mewtwo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Flamethrower
- Psystrike
- Ice Beam
Bambi (Xerneas) @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
GOD (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 56 Atk / 200 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
All the movesets were explained above, so I feel I don't need to reiterate myself here.
Threats:
Xerneas is still a major threat, because it can carry Psyshock. To be honest, I dont know why no one carries Psyshock. They tend to carry Thunderbolt, as far as I can tell, and I have no godly idea why. However, if they do, my counter is destroyed.
As of the first change, Xerneas is no longer a threat.
While not a serious weakness of the team, between how little it's seen and that it's more of an annoyance than a weakness, I've found Defensive Foul Play Yveltal with Rocky Helmet is a problem. However, I haven't seen one since switching Ho-Oh for Mewtwo, whom can be OHKO 62% of the time from Foul Play with 0 atk IVs (a change that's forgotten in this post, but is current on Showdown, just laziness). Modest Mewtwo, however, 2HKO's Yveltal, so it's not a good counter.
This team uses two Pokemon weak to Stealth Rocks in Ho-Oh, which packs Regenerator, and Yveltal, which packs Oblivion Wing, both allowing for recovery. However, due to the weaknesses, I'd prefer a way of destroying Stealth Rock.
As of the first change, Stealth Rocks are not as big of a problem as they were, but are still a slight concern.
Other potential teammates:
Deoxys Defense can take the place of Blissey, resisting the Psyshock from Xerneas, as well as having access to Spikes and/or Stealth Rock. I am currently testing Deoxys-D over Blissey.
As of the first change to the team, Deoxys-D has replaced Blissey.
Not a new teammate, but a different moveset, I'm thinking of switching out Shadow Sneak with Rest for recovery on Giratina. Im not sure of the reliability of Rest without Sleep Talk, and I lack the room for Sleep Talk unless I want to get walled even worse by taunt. With Fairies running around, Dragon Tail is now inferior to Roar, even more than it was in generation 5, because it's stopped by both Substitute and Fairy types, so I need Dragon Claw for damage.
Again, not a new teammate, but this time an EV change for Xerneas. I remember in generation 5, Scarf Dark Void was a thing, but I dont think it's been a thing so far this generation. Until I can get a little more research on it, I do want to keep Xerneas with enough speed to be able to outspeed Scarf'd Darkrai after a Geomancy. However, if Scarf Dark Void is no longer a thing this generation, then I only need 44 or 48 (need to double check) speed EVs to outspeed Scarf'd Genesect, as well as Mega Gengar, keeping said mon from revenge-killing me.
Exported team:
http://pastebin.com/dphrPCgw
Last edited:
