XY OU MegaZard Y Team (No Legendaries)

[silversurfer718]

Hi all,
I've lurked these forums for awhile now and I figure its about time I post a team and see what everyone thinks. Note I've built the team around pokes I actually have access/have bred on cartridge, so this limits the abilities/moves I have access to on some of these mons and since I have no idea how to RNG, no legendries. With that information set, here goes.

Charizard-Mega-Y (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost

My favorite mon since I can remember. The whole reason I came back to Pokémon in Gen5 was thanks to Solar Power making him somewhat more viable than previously. Gen6 has been unbelievably kind to him, gifting him 2 monster mega evolutions. I know the fotm is ZardX, but I prefer the tactical nuke that is YardY, especially since it plays a lot like his Gen5 version. This set is pretty standard except for the EVs. I opted to go Modest and add a bit more bulk in order to better take a hit from Greninja under the sun and KO him back, a Poke that would run through this team otherwise.



Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Att/4 Def/252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance

EDIT: I originally had AVDrill, but after some suggestions, changed to Sand RushDrill. While I miss Mold Breaker a lot, SRushDrill has patched a huge weakness my team had against speed threats and helps revenge kill what YZard helped weaken.



Tyranitar (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

EDIT: another change. I originally ran scharfTar and tbh, this is the change I like the least. Scarftar helped remove MPinsir, Tflame, and a few others by being speedier than they are. This set is built as more support, as between Excadrill, YZard and SR, enough damage is done to finish teams. Really considering running Hippo again as TTars main appeal, pursuit is gone, but with sand I've decided to keep him for now since he has good mixed bulk and crunch still does very good damage. Ice Beam is for Lando and Gliscor on the switch or are major pains to this team.



Slowbro (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Def
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
- Ice Beam
- Scald

EDIT: replacing Hippo. Provides most of the same perks, checking physical dragons and other physical mons. While losing Stealth Rocks stinks, Bros Regen ability is a grest consolation as it gives a lot of switches and helps gain momentum. Plus as Gannex pointed out, I really needed a water resist.



Chesnaught (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Hammer Arm
- Rock Slide

EDIT #2: replacing Rotom-Fan who replaced Infernape. this guy is surprisingly strong. A fantastic bisharp counter, and does decent enough against other threats by stalling. Also checks MGyrados really well and behind a sub can counter bird spam.

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight



The glue of the team. This thing has saved my bacon on more occasions than I can count. Stops setup sweepers in there tracks and can pull off sweeps of her own. There is nothing funnier than seeing a +6 Azumarill or another CM user get maxed and proceed to barely do a thing to me. Causes a ton of rage quits. Is so bulky she can power her way through special walls like Chansey if need be. Covers Excadrills weaknesses well, and rounds out the team by providing status removing support, something none of my pokes like.




And there it is. Sorry for no images, I'm doing this all from phone. Will try to update with pics later.




New Threats:

Chansey
Both forms of Landorus
Gliscor



I'll also update the threat list when I get home.
Thanks for reading.

 

[Gannex]

The team looks pretty good, but I have a few questions/suggestions:
You mention that sandstorm from TTar/Hippo buffs your Excadrill, but you're not running sand rush and he's not a rock type, so I don't know what you mean by that.
Since you already have TTar setting up the sand, you could use Sand Force on Hippo for a 30% buff on EQ. However, I can see how double Sand Stream could help to ensure 5 sunny turns for ZardY, and 30% buff to one move on a wall is pretty small.
With the double sandstorm, I would advise you not to use Moonlight on Clef, as it will only heal 25% in sand. Heal Bell + Softboiled is legal, as is Wish + Heal Bell. The latter could be a good option to support the team better.

 

[silversurfer718]

The team looks pretty good, but I have a few questions/suggestions:
You mention that sandstorm from TTar/Hippo buffs your Excadrill, but you're not running sand rush and he's not a rock type, so I don't know what you mean by that.
Since you already have TTar setting up the sand, you could use Sand Force on Hippo for a 30% buff on EQ. However, I can see how double Sand Stream could help to ensure 5 sunny turns for ZardY, and 30% buff to one move on a wall is pretty small.
With the double sandstorm, I would advise you not to use Moonlight on Clef, as it will only heal 25% in sand. Heal Bell + Softboiled is legal, as is Wish + Heal Bell. The latter could be a good option to support the team better.

Wow I'm really embarrassed to say I always thought rock, steel and ground types all got a 50% buff under sand. Thank you for pointing that out. With that being said, I'm gonna try Sand Force Hippo now so a. Stronger EQs vs CharX and Garchomp under Sand and b. Benefits from neutral water under sun.

As for clefable, my only worry with Wish is the charge turn. I feel like I'd have to drop Calm Mind for protect, but CM is so clutch. But I'll give it a whirl as well. Thanks for the help!

 

[rob.]

I have a few suggestions that should make it easier for the team to function. The first would be to alter Infernape's set a bit, a mixed moveset with Life Orb, Close Combat / Fire Blast / Hidden Power [Ice] / U-Turn would be better for the metagame atm and would allow Infernape to get rid of a couple of its counters Gliscor and Landorus-T. The ability to change moves would benefit Infernape and eases prediction because you're not going to be locked into any move you choose. A Life Orb or Air Balloon Excadrill set that utilizes Sand Rush would be better for the team because it would transform Excadrill into a deadly threat and an efficient revenge killer. This change would pretty much guarantees that you can remove entry hazards (as long as Sandstorm is active) that hinder Mega Charizard Y, this could prove to be useful some games. You should also try out Landorus-T over Hippowdon. Although Landorus-T doesn't have any reliable recovery options it has a great ability in Intimidate and good defensive stats. Unlike Hippowdon, Landorus-T can also hit the opposing physical threats back after hindering them with an Attack drop, and pivot teammates in and out with U-turn. If you don't want to make that change it's fine, instead of replacing Hippowdon you could try to fit Whirlwind in its moveset to prevent opposing Pokemon from setting up on it. A bulkier spread for Tyranitar would be good as well, which would allow it to take more Special Attacks and act as a better check for Flying spam. It could also hold Smooth Rock to increase Sandstorm turns for Excadrill. That change is optional but it's still worth a try. Good luck with the team.

Sets

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 212 Atk / 44 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Hidden Power Ice
- Mach Punch

Landorus (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 184 HP / 220 Def / 104 Spe
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Fire Blast

 

[silversurfer718]

Rob. thanks for the advice. I love the idea for Infernape and am working on breeding 1 atm. Gliscor has definitely been a pain.

As far as switching Excadrill, my worry is the lack of moldbreaker makes rotom w harder to handle, and that's the biggest reason for that version of Excadrill.

I've considered Gannex idea of Sand Force Hippo to alleviate the Sand stress for Clefable as well as boost his EQ, so your suggestion of smooth rock ttar to get more turns of sand makes sense (since it also makes resetting Ys sun easier). My worry is without scarf, who on this team can handle MPinsir? If my math is right, scarftar out speeds max speed+positive nature Mpinsir who can only quick attack him and ttar can counter with the 1hko.

thanks a lot guys for the feedback.

 

[Gannex]

I know that you have sun on this team, but I still think that you have too much of a water weakness. 5 pokes are weak to water and nobody resists it. I would recommend alleviating this by dropping Hippo and Infernape. These pokes are fine in OU, don't get me wrong, but 5 water weaknesses and no resistances is not good.

 

[silversurfer718]

Gannex are there any viable nonlegendary pokes you can think of to start with?

Hippos been my check for ZardX scarfchomp and other physical types w/o a water move.

infernapes been my obligatory pinkblob killer.

Maybe regenerator tangrowth or slowbro in lieu of hippo?

I have no idea who to think of for an infernape replacement though

 

[Gannex]

Gannex are there any viable nonlegendary pokes you can think of to start with?

Hippos been my check for ZardX scarfchomp and other physical types w/o a water move.

infernapes been my obligatory pinkblob killer.

Maybe regenerator tangrowth or slowbro in lieu of hippo?

I have no idea who to think of for an infernape replacement though

Why no legends? Are you playing on WiFi?

Slowbro is a great choice over Hippo, as he is a physical wall that resists water and he has the bulk to stop ZardX, SDChomp, DDNite, and many others.

 

[silversurfer718]

Gannex yeah I'm playing on wifi. I like to test teams on showdown and then breed them for cartridge. Trust me, this team would have an entirely different make up if I had easier access to legendaries and move tutors (never learned how to RNG nor do I own older games to try).

Slowbro it is. Only reason I went with Hippo over him was no uturn/pursuit weakness and stealth rocks.

Still leaves me with the infernape hole though.

 

[mcpallday]

I would change hippo to amoongus because of the glaring water and more specifically keldeo weakness your team has. Amoongus works great on your team due to its defensive synergy with tyranitar and its ability to stop rotom wash, another big threat to sand offense.

Amoongus @ black sludge
Evs: 252 HP 252 Def 4 Spdef
( Bold Nature)
- Clear smog/Sludge bonb
- Giga drain
- Spore
- Hp fire/Foul play

 

[silversurfer718]

mcpallday thanks for the suggestion. I've opted to go with Slowbro for now. I've also taken Infernape out for Rotom Fan. I could probably have gone with Rotom-W but I wanted someone else on this team who could MegaSaur without worry.

Very open to suggestions, but so far I think I feel very comfortable with CharY, Clefable, and Excadrill as is, and have really liked Slowbro in the sims I've run.

 

[mcpallday]

My change was for hippowdon not Slowbro?

 

[Gannex]

My change was for hippowdon not Slowbro?

He replaced Hippowdon with Slowbro, so with your comment he is now weighing Slowbro vs. Amoongus instead of Hippowdon vs. Amoongus.

 

[Pikachu42]

why is everyone running shadow claw excadrill. it's a copied gen 5 set used to beat giratina which is in ubers (cuz excadrill was ubers last gen)
iron head is way better

 

[silversurfer718]

why is everyone running shadow claw excadrill. it's a copied gen 5 set used to beat giratina which is in ubers (cuz excadrill was ubers last gen)
iron head is way better

My preference would be Iron Head, but I'm building a team that I can play on cartridge as well, and atm I don't have access to Iron Head Excadrill. my only steel option right now is metal claw. Hoping ORAS brings in move tutors to open things up for me.

 

[Pikachu42]

metal claw is still probably better than shadow claw.

 

[silversurfer718]

metal claw is still probably better than shadow claw.

Gonna give this a shot. Might be a good answer for Clefable/Sylveon if CharY goes down

 

[blinkie]

Honestly not worth it to have Metal Claw, iirc it only has 50 BP so SE Metal Claw=Neutral EQ
If you can't get Iron Head then I would suggest either Swords Dance or Stealth Rock(he gets this right?)
And btw you have a TTar so why don't you run Sand Rush over Mold Breaker, plus you already have a scarfer in Rotom-Fan so I would suggest changing TTar from Choice Scarf to Smooth Rock.
If you don't want to run SR on Exca, run it on TTar over Pursuit.
So summary of changes:
Metal claw-->Swords Dance on Excadrill
Choice scarf-->Smooth Rock on Tyranitar
Pursuit-->Stealth Rock on Tyranitar
Mold Breaker-->Sand Rush on Excadrill

 

[silversurfer718]

Honestly not worth it to have Metal Claw, iirc it only has 50 BP so SE Metal Claw=Neutral EQ
If you can't get Iron Head then I would suggest either Swords Dance or Stealth Rock(he gets this right?)
And btw you have a TTar so why don't you run Sand Rush over Mold Breaker, plus you already have a scarfer in Rotom-Fan so I would suggest changing TTar from Choice Scarf to Smooth Rock.
If you don't want to run SR on Exca, run it on TTar over Pursuit.
So summary of changes:
Metal claw-->Swords Dance on Excadrill
Choice scarf-->Smooth Rock on Tyranitar
Pursuit-->Stealth Rock on Tyranitar
Mold Breaker-->Sand Rush on Excadrill

I took a lot of these suggestions under consideration. I had a hard time getting over changing either of the two because they had done so well, but after a few matches it became apparent that if YZard went down I didn't have the firepower to take out stall and I Pursuit trapping became less important, so I went with what you suggested to great results. SRush Drill has been a monster for me and he works so well cleaning up for YZard it's crazy. TTar on the other hand.....not sure if he carries his weight. Without pursuit trapping of the lati twins and gengar. ...I'm not too sure. And without scarf the things I want him to counter, MPinsir and Tflame usually put in pretty good damage.

 

[blinkie]

Hm well I see you changed Chesnaught over Rotom. Also I can see that you have problems with stall and the change was for Bisharp. I think if you wanted to, you could change TTar for Hippo, or just run Pursuit over Crunch.

Honestly Chesnaught doesn't do all that much for your team besides wall Mega Gyarados, especially he doesn't do that much against stall. Also he walls Bisharp, but in view of these problems I have a better solution for you. I would suggest SD Lucario over Chesnaught. Lucario is a boss after one SD, or even one justified boost from switching in on Bisharp. Lucario has insane power after just one SD, as his Extreme Speed is a KO on Talonflame with a bit of previous damage.
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Talonflame: 265-313 (89.2 - 105.3%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
And thats Jolly(I would suggest Adamant to just nuke everything). Lucario can switch in on things like predicted Toxic from Chansey, set up the SD, and pick apart the opponent's team.
Here's the set:
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Tail
- Extreme Speed
Ok the third slot depends on what your team has problems with. Bullet Punch nails Gengar, also Terrakion I think. Iron Tail wrecks Clefable and Togekiss. Ice Punch is just for Landos and Gliscor. Its up to you, but I would suggest Ice Punch cause you say that Gliscor and friends are problems for you. This also easily comes in on things like Chansey so pretty good vs stall. You'll have 3 fighting weaknesses, but also 3 resists so as long as you play carefully you won't get swept by the likes of Mega Medicham and Heracross.

I hope this fixes some of your team's problems!

 

[silversurfer718]

ZZtrollZZ thanks for the suggestion. Gonna try it now.

Unfortunately Lucario can't learn Iron Tail or ice punch on cartridge. However, bullet punch can so I'll go with that.

Would blaze kick be viable also? Just checking before I commit to breeding.

 

[blinkie]

Hm if you can't learn Iron Tail or Ice Punch I guess Bullet Punch would be the best. IDK what Blaze Kick hits really, 85 BP is kinda low as in SE Blaze Kick on Skarm is weaker than CC. I guess you hit Scizor? I would still say Bullet Punch unless you can think of something you need to hit that gives you trouble, as Bullet Punch is very niche but still probably better than Blaze Kick.