Hey guys :) I thought I'd share the team I'm using to get reqs on the suspect ladder atm (to ban Greninja's broke ass obvs). It performs very, very consistently and I've beaten some excellent teams with it. This is the team I'm most proud of atm and fits my style of play very well. So without further ado...
The Team
Overview
If you want a label you can slap on this team, I'd probably say it falls under the Balance archetype. However, it is heavily offensively oriented - more so than most balanced teams - so you can often afford to play a little more recklessly.
Sceptile's mega was the one that immediately caught my eye when ORAS was released. It has phenomenal offensive typing, earth-shattering stats, stellar coverage options and an actually pretty sick ability. To this day it's also a mega that's heavily underused and frequently unprepared for so, naturally, it's the 'mon I wanted to base my team around.
After doing some research, I became aware of a very dangerous HO core comprised of Greninja, Mega Sceptile and Talonflame (typically banded). It was a core capable of putting enormous amounts of pressure on pretty much every playstyle except hard stall, so I decided to adopt it as my team's centre.
The next thing my team badly needed was a stallbreaker, as the offensive FWG core driving my team just didn't have enough immediate power to break through the archetype's biggest threats (especially with the introduction of Mega Sableye and Mega Slowbro to the metagame), so I settled with by far my favourite stallbreaker in the game atm, Diggersby. This thing is UNREAL, and again really quite underestimated in the current meta. Digger also has excellent synergy with Talonflame, being able to bait Fighting type attacks, and also soaking up Electric attacks that aim to fry the Smogon bird, so it was a welcome addition to the team.
The next stage in building my team was to consider hazards. Hazards and hazard removal are absolutely mandatory on 99% of teams that could ever hope to succeed at a high level of play. Talonflame needed them removed from the field at all possible times and Digger + Scep massively appreciate Rocks support to secure OHKOs at crucial points. I decided to play it safe with my hazard choices, but put a couple of twists on both. Heatran and Latios have excellent defensive synergy with one another, and form a balanced glue that ties my team together and allow for safe switches across the board. More on the twists later.
This team ran very well in regular OU but obviously Greninja isn't usable on the suspect ladder, so I needed to find a replacement. I wanted to maintain the powerful offensive FWG core that Gren had provided me previously, and I endeavoured to find something that was just as immediately threatening. Again after some research, I was hearing that Belly Drum Azumarill was a severely underprepared for threat in the ORAS meta, as Assault Vest had become commonplace towards the end of XY. I decided to adopt it, and it actually performs miles better than Greninja imo. It is much bulkier and much more threatening once the BD is up. Hell, even without it up it has strong priority and Play Rough hits like a truck. Triple rabbit (Mega Lopunny, Diggersby and Azumarill) was a core I'd read about and indeed, alongside Diggersby, Azu put enourmous amounts of pressure on opposing teams.
The final change I made was a ballsy one. I was at about 1500 COIL on the suspect ladder when I noticed a particular weakness to Mega Metagross, who was running around everywhere and completely shitting on my life. Bisharp was also a problem, and as KeldGross cores with Bisharp are fairly common, it didn't take me long to realise I perhaps needed a tweak. I analysed my team and found that CB Talonflame was giving Gross and Bisharp free switches after Brave Birds, so I tried switching it up to my favourite Talonflame set - Specially Defensive Bulk Up. I was. not. dissapointed. It completely patched up my problem, and the team immediately felt about twice as consistent. I now had another deadly win condition, that allowed me switches on a variety on unsuspecting special attackers. Excellent stuff.
So, going into the sets themselves...
In Detail
MEGA SCEPTILE (Broccoli Beatdown) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Earthquake
- Substitute
By far my favourite thing about Mega Sceptile is that it gets a sub up against Rotom-W completely for free. And this is not a threat you want to be dealing with behind a sub. Giga Drain and Dragon Pulse take huge chunks out of anything that don't resist them, the former being able to rejuvenate Scep and provide more Substitute opportunities. Earthquake nails steel types that resist its STABs. I used to run Focus Blast, which a lot of people reccommend I use. It's exceptionally useful for Ferrothorn, I admit. However, I ultimately decided that I was more than capable of predicting the switch to Ferro and using Digger or Heatran to either setup on it or force it out with a well timed double switch. I am much happier being able to bop Heatran on the switch and take a fat 70-80% from it. Focus Blast is also expected by more players, so EQ can often net the early unexpected KO on Tran with a little prior damage.
Substitute vastly eases prediction. You'll often find yourself facing down a Rotom-W whilst the enemy has, for example, a Latios and a Heatran on their team ready to switch in. Why predict straight away when you can just sub and pressure them next turn with the appropriate coverage move? Easily the handiest move for this threat, and a must have. Also plays mind games vs Bisharp and can hit hard with EQ if it manages to Sub on a Sucker Punch.
TALONFLAME (Liz's Songbird) @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-o-Wisp
- Bulk Up
- Roost
As aforementioned, this was orginally a Choice Banded Talonflame. This was great for immediate power and pivoting, but it fucking sucked when you got it wrong. It killed a lot of momentum and awarded my opponent free setup turns with top threats that I couldn't allow them. The choice between Will-o-Wisp and Taunt comes down to personal preference really, and I've had discussions with a few people on which is better. I ultimately decided that I was happy leaving the stallbreaking to Digger, and much prefer catching an endless stream of cocky Landorus-Ts with a burn, coming in to eat up a Brave Bird. Never gets old :')
SpDef Talonflame is surprisingly bulky. So bulky in fact it can roost on LO Latios's Draco Meteor, proceed to setup in its face or on the switch and pretty much win. See this calc:
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Talonflame: 251-296 (69.9 - 82.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Impressive, and if they don't know your spread, onixpected. Brave Bird is for denting, sweeping and prioity STAB ofc, Bulk Up is to beat the tier after a couple of boosts and some weakened checks, and Roost is for recovery and lost Flying type mind games. All good shit and an invaluable member of the team.
DIGGERSBY (Hefner) @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
0 Happiness
- Earthquake
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
- Swords Dance
Oh my goodness. Hugh is here. And he's brought his girls. This thing is sickeningly powerful. After a boost, your opponent gets to play a fun game of "who wants to get their face piled into the back of their head?" EQ and Frustration bop absolutely everything insanely hard (except Gengar. This set can't touch Gengar. Fuck Gengar). Quick attack picks off weakened threats and actually shits on offense pretty hard if you can get to +2. SD just makes your opponent stress hard, it's such good fun. I'm now going to post my favourite (although not relevant) calc to demonstrate the power of the Digger:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Trevenant: 313-369 (83.6 - 98.6%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
That's standard trevenant pretty much OHKOd after Rocks. And that's a stupidly bulky resist. Here are a couple of more relevant calcs:
^ Enough said.
N.b. I run Jolly over Adamant as I really don't miss the drop in power and it catches things like Excadrill and Breloom off guard.
HEATRAN (Darmanitran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Spa / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
0 Atk IVs
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
Not a lot to say about this set. This is your bog standard vanilla SpDef Tran, I guess the only slightly unusual moves being Toxic and Protect (although they're fairly common anyway). Protect is an absolute godsend with threats like Scarf Lando-T, Mega Lopunny and everpresent EQ coverage around, and it can give you a huge amount of initiative. It can stall some threats out with ToxTect as well which is always nice, and puts pressure on shit like SD Talonflame and DD Megazard X. Lava Plume is for obligatory STAB and burn hax and SR because my team is competitive yo. Has great defensive synergy with the rest of the team, and is of course my #1 switch into stuff like Talonflame, Lati@s, Megaman etc...
LATIOS (Calliope) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog
Again, a pretty bog standard set that doesn't require much explanation. Latios is easily one of the best 'mons in the game atm. It has good typing and enough bulk without investment to allow me to switch in on many resisted and neutral hits and either Defog or smack something hard.
I toyed around with the EQ slot a fair bit, which is the only somewhat non-standard move. At first, I tried Calm Mind. It was a bit better when I used CB Talonflame, but now that Talon's SpDef Bulk Up I really don't need the extra setup. With CM and Life Orb Lati also gets worn down really quickly and, more often than not, struggles to find a slot to boost up. I then switched it out for Roost, which has become a lot more common because of the switches Lati can force in the ORAS metagame. The longevity was nice, but I was sick of 'Trans and Bisharps coming in for free and causing me problems (as both of them do to this team), and I also felt that the incredibly offensive orientation of my team didn't match up well with a more slow-paced Roost variant of Latios. All this considered, I gave Earthquake a try. It fitted the bill, and catches a lot of people off guard.
EQ also allows for important chip damage on Mega Metagross so the rest of my team's priority can finish the job. The number of times this has come in handy and saved my ass are too many to count.
So yeah, Draco is for nuking shit, and resists like Heatran are cleaned up by the combo of Draco + Earthquake. Psyshock is for STAB, Fairies and special walls. EQ, as explained, is to catch annoying shit on the switch or after a Draco, and Defog because Lati is the best hazard remover in the game, period.
AZUMARILL (Crystal) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Belly Drum
This was my Greninja replacement. And it fits so well on this team. Often, the aim of the game is to use Diggersby to smash checks to Azu and put pressure on the opponent through hazards, Will-o from Talon, strong attacks from Mega Scept from behind a sub etc. and then come in with azu and clean up with BD + Aqua Jet. It really is that simple. Sometimes it works vice-versa, and Azu can be used to smash half the opponent's team if it finds a setup window, leaving Digger and Talonflame to mop up.
Azu is nice and bulky with 92 HP Evs, and can set up easily on things like LO Latios's Psyshock and Excadrill's EQ iirc if it's healthy enough. 164 Spe EVs gets the jump on uninvested base 70s, which azu often needs in order to sweep. Waterfall and Play Rough are for crazy strong STABs, with Waterfall's flinch chance occasionally coming in clutch lol. BellyJet is as mandatory as it is good, and easily takes down weakened teams. Definitely one of the team's MVPs, and has won me games so many times.
Mega Metagross - easily one of the strongest megas in ORAS now. This thing has the potential to cause my team so many problems, but it can usually be dealt with by Talon's Will-o or chip damage + priority. It's just SO damn bulky and doesn't give me any room to setup. It hits things like Digger hard and fast so it can be tough to land a finishing blow. Manageable, but definitely something to watch out for.
Gengar - Gengar also matches up very well vs this team. Heatran gets smacked hard by LO Focus Blast, Destiny Bond is occasionally a thing, and Digger can't touch it whatsoever. Usually, SpDef Talonflame is my most reliable answer to it, but its coverage has to be scouted for in case it carries TBolt. Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave still hit hard as is... Definitely a threat that has to be played around, and can be really annoying as its mere presence totally roadblocks Diggersby wallbreaking.
Mamoswine - Mamo is an absolute bastard lead against this team. Usually, my play is to lead with Sceptile, hold back on the mega and hit it with Giga Drain, which OHKOs iirc. Hopefully my opponent goes for Rocks expecting the switch, I take it down to its sash and then switch to Azu or something to tank the incoming Ice Shard. Talon can also get a sexy burn on it, so again it's a threat that can be played around. Still, Mamo is super good on offense in the meta, and needs to be correctly predicted around.
Mega Lopunny - In the hands of a good player, Lopunny can really hit this team hard. Talonflame is a great answer for it, but has to be careful when switching in. Fake Out spam is easily played around though, and Protect on Heatran can come in clutch.
Mega Charizard X - I haven't seen much of this guy at all, but prior damage is absolutely necessary in order to reliably deal with it. Luckily, this team has priorty coming out the wazoo, but letting it get a DD up is not a good idea. Predictions required. Tread carefully.
N.b. You may think Zard Y would be a threat to this team, but the combo of Rocks + SpDef Talon + Heatran handles it really well.
Mega Scizor - A huge threat. Talon can usually scare it out or land a Will-o, but it has the potential to outprioritise and outKO the majority of my team. Heatran is also a good check, but Superpower is such a bitch on the offensive SD sets so it can't just switch in willy nilly.
n.b. I'll update this as I go, as I'm definitely missing stuff off here. If you spot anything, don't hesitate to let me know! Most threats to this team can be played around, and I haven't really found one thing it can't surpass through optimal plays. However, I haven't yet played Rain. Eugh.
The Team
Overview
If you want a label you can slap on this team, I'd probably say it falls under the Balance archetype. However, it is heavily offensively oriented - more so than most balanced teams - so you can often afford to play a little more recklessly.
Sceptile's mega was the one that immediately caught my eye when ORAS was released. It has phenomenal offensive typing, earth-shattering stats, stellar coverage options and an actually pretty sick ability. To this day it's also a mega that's heavily underused and frequently unprepared for so, naturally, it's the 'mon I wanted to base my team around.
After doing some research, I became aware of a very dangerous HO core comprised of Greninja, Mega Sceptile and Talonflame (typically banded). It was a core capable of putting enormous amounts of pressure on pretty much every playstyle except hard stall, so I decided to adopt it as my team's centre.
The next thing my team badly needed was a stallbreaker, as the offensive FWG core driving my team just didn't have enough immediate power to break through the archetype's biggest threats (especially with the introduction of Mega Sableye and Mega Slowbro to the metagame), so I settled with by far my favourite stallbreaker in the game atm, Diggersby. This thing is UNREAL, and again really quite underestimated in the current meta. Digger also has excellent synergy with Talonflame, being able to bait Fighting type attacks, and also soaking up Electric attacks that aim to fry the Smogon bird, so it was a welcome addition to the team.
The next stage in building my team was to consider hazards. Hazards and hazard removal are absolutely mandatory on 99% of teams that could ever hope to succeed at a high level of play. Talonflame needed them removed from the field at all possible times and Digger + Scep massively appreciate Rocks support to secure OHKOs at crucial points. I decided to play it safe with my hazard choices, but put a couple of twists on both. Heatran and Latios have excellent defensive synergy with one another, and form a balanced glue that ties my team together and allow for safe switches across the board. More on the twists later.
This team ran very well in regular OU but obviously Greninja isn't usable on the suspect ladder, so I needed to find a replacement. I wanted to maintain the powerful offensive FWG core that Gren had provided me previously, and I endeavoured to find something that was just as immediately threatening. Again after some research, I was hearing that Belly Drum Azumarill was a severely underprepared for threat in the ORAS meta, as Assault Vest had become commonplace towards the end of XY. I decided to adopt it, and it actually performs miles better than Greninja imo. It is much bulkier and much more threatening once the BD is up. Hell, even without it up it has strong priority and Play Rough hits like a truck. Triple rabbit (Mega Lopunny, Diggersby and Azumarill) was a core I'd read about and indeed, alongside Diggersby, Azu put enourmous amounts of pressure on opposing teams.
The final change I made was a ballsy one. I was at about 1500 COIL on the suspect ladder when I noticed a particular weakness to Mega Metagross, who was running around everywhere and completely shitting on my life. Bisharp was also a problem, and as KeldGross cores with Bisharp are fairly common, it didn't take me long to realise I perhaps needed a tweak. I analysed my team and found that CB Talonflame was giving Gross and Bisharp free switches after Brave Birds, so I tried switching it up to my favourite Talonflame set - Specially Defensive Bulk Up. I was. not. dissapointed. It completely patched up my problem, and the team immediately felt about twice as consistent. I now had another deadly win condition, that allowed me switches on a variety on unsuspecting special attackers. Excellent stuff.
So, going into the sets themselves...
In Detail
MEGA SCEPTILE (Broccoli Beatdown) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Earthquake
- Substitute
By far my favourite thing about Mega Sceptile is that it gets a sub up against Rotom-W completely for free. And this is not a threat you want to be dealing with behind a sub. Giga Drain and Dragon Pulse take huge chunks out of anything that don't resist them, the former being able to rejuvenate Scep and provide more Substitute opportunities. Earthquake nails steel types that resist its STABs. I used to run Focus Blast, which a lot of people reccommend I use. It's exceptionally useful for Ferrothorn, I admit. However, I ultimately decided that I was more than capable of predicting the switch to Ferro and using Digger or Heatran to either setup on it or force it out with a well timed double switch. I am much happier being able to bop Heatran on the switch and take a fat 70-80% from it. Focus Blast is also expected by more players, so EQ can often net the early unexpected KO on Tran with a little prior damage.
Substitute vastly eases prediction. You'll often find yourself facing down a Rotom-W whilst the enemy has, for example, a Latios and a Heatran on their team ready to switch in. Why predict straight away when you can just sub and pressure them next turn with the appropriate coverage move? Easily the handiest move for this threat, and a must have. Also plays mind games vs Bisharp and can hit hard with EQ if it manages to Sub on a Sucker Punch.
TALONFLAME (Liz's Songbird) @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-o-Wisp
- Bulk Up
- Roost
As aforementioned, this was orginally a Choice Banded Talonflame. This was great for immediate power and pivoting, but it fucking sucked when you got it wrong. It killed a lot of momentum and awarded my opponent free setup turns with top threats that I couldn't allow them. The choice between Will-o-Wisp and Taunt comes down to personal preference really, and I've had discussions with a few people on which is better. I ultimately decided that I was happy leaving the stallbreaking to Digger, and much prefer catching an endless stream of cocky Landorus-Ts with a burn, coming in to eat up a Brave Bird. Never gets old :')
SpDef Talonflame is surprisingly bulky. So bulky in fact it can roost on LO Latios's Draco Meteor, proceed to setup in its face or on the switch and pretty much win. See this calc:
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Talonflame: 251-296 (69.9 - 82.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Impressive, and if they don't know your spread, onixpected. Brave Bird is for denting, sweeping and prioity STAB ofc, Bulk Up is to beat the tier after a couple of boosts and some weakened checks, and Roost is for recovery and lost Flying type mind games. All good shit and an invaluable member of the team.
DIGGERSBY (Hefner) @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
0 Happiness
- Earthquake
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
- Swords Dance
Oh my goodness. Hugh is here. And he's brought his girls. This thing is sickeningly powerful. After a boost, your opponent gets to play a fun game of "who wants to get their face piled into the back of their head?" EQ and Frustration bop absolutely everything insanely hard (except Gengar. This set can't touch Gengar. Fuck Gengar). Quick attack picks off weakened threats and actually shits on offense pretty hard if you can get to +2. SD just makes your opponent stress hard, it's such good fun. I'm now going to post my favourite (although not relevant) calc to demonstrate the power of the Digger:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Trevenant: 313-369 (83.6 - 98.6%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
That's standard trevenant pretty much OHKOd after Rocks. And that's a stupidly bulky resist. Here are a couple of more relevant calcs:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 144-170 (43.1 - 50.8%) -- 53.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gliscor: 313-370 (88.4 - 104.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Sableye: 308-364 (101.3 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gliscor: 313-370 (88.4 - 104.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Sableye: 308-364 (101.3 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
^ Enough said.
N.b. I run Jolly over Adamant as I really don't miss the drop in power and it catches things like Excadrill and Breloom off guard.
HEATRAN (Darmanitran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Spa / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
0 Atk IVs
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
Not a lot to say about this set. This is your bog standard vanilla SpDef Tran, I guess the only slightly unusual moves being Toxic and Protect (although they're fairly common anyway). Protect is an absolute godsend with threats like Scarf Lando-T, Mega Lopunny and everpresent EQ coverage around, and it can give you a huge amount of initiative. It can stall some threats out with ToxTect as well which is always nice, and puts pressure on shit like SD Talonflame and DD Megazard X. Lava Plume is for obligatory STAB and burn hax and SR because my team is competitive yo. Has great defensive synergy with the rest of the team, and is of course my #1 switch into stuff like Talonflame, Lati@s, Megaman etc...
LATIOS (Calliope) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog
Again, a pretty bog standard set that doesn't require much explanation. Latios is easily one of the best 'mons in the game atm. It has good typing and enough bulk without investment to allow me to switch in on many resisted and neutral hits and either Defog or smack something hard.
I toyed around with the EQ slot a fair bit, which is the only somewhat non-standard move. At first, I tried Calm Mind. It was a bit better when I used CB Talonflame, but now that Talon's SpDef Bulk Up I really don't need the extra setup. With CM and Life Orb Lati also gets worn down really quickly and, more often than not, struggles to find a slot to boost up. I then switched it out for Roost, which has become a lot more common because of the switches Lati can force in the ORAS metagame. The longevity was nice, but I was sick of 'Trans and Bisharps coming in for free and causing me problems (as both of them do to this team), and I also felt that the incredibly offensive orientation of my team didn't match up well with a more slow-paced Roost variant of Latios. All this considered, I gave Earthquake a try. It fitted the bill, and catches a lot of people off guard.
0 Atk Life Orb Latios Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 328-390 (85.1 - 101.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
0 Atk Life Orb Latios Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Bisharp: 172-203 (63.2 - 74.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Latios: 247-292 (82 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Life Orb Latios Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Bisharp: 172-203 (63.2 - 74.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Latios: 247-292 (82 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
EQ also allows for important chip damage on Mega Metagross so the rest of my team's priority can finish the job. The number of times this has come in handy and saved my ass are too many to count.
So yeah, Draco is for nuking shit, and resists like Heatran are cleaned up by the combo of Draco + Earthquake. Psyshock is for STAB, Fairies and special walls. EQ, as explained, is to catch annoying shit on the switch or after a Draco, and Defog because Lati is the best hazard remover in the game, period.
AZUMARILL (Crystal) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Belly Drum
This was my Greninja replacement. And it fits so well on this team. Often, the aim of the game is to use Diggersby to smash checks to Azu and put pressure on the opponent through hazards, Will-o from Talon, strong attacks from Mega Scept from behind a sub etc. and then come in with azu and clean up with BD + Aqua Jet. It really is that simple. Sometimes it works vice-versa, and Azu can be used to smash half the opponent's team if it finds a setup window, leaving Digger and Talonflame to mop up.
Azu is nice and bulky with 92 HP Evs, and can set up easily on things like LO Latios's Psyshock and Excadrill's EQ iirc if it's healthy enough. 164 Spe EVs gets the jump on uninvested base 70s, which azu often needs in order to sweep. Waterfall and Play Rough are for crazy strong STABs, with Waterfall's flinch chance occasionally coming in clutch lol. BellyJet is as mandatory as it is good, and easily takes down weakened teams. Definitely one of the team's MVPs, and has won me games so many times.
N.b. You may think Zard Y would be a threat to this team, but the combo of Rocks + SpDef Talon + Heatran handles it really well.
n.b. I'll update this as I go, as I'm definitely missing stuff off here. If you spot anything, don't hesitate to let me know! Most threats to this team can be played around, and I haven't really found one thing it can't surpass through optimal plays. However, I haven't yet played Rain. Eugh.
