Hello!
I'm clearly not the first person to jump on the Mega Sableye stall train, but I couldn't resist trying it out. Magic Bouncers Espeon, Xatu and even Mega Diancie leave much to be desired in terms of their defensive typings and stats. Now that stall has received another amazing defensive mega other than Venusaur, some variety has been brought back into a playstyle that was beginning to grow stale towards the end of XY. This has been one of my most successful teams, reaching #1 on the OU ladder a few times and winning random OU room tournaments here and there. I have not yet had the opportunity to jump into Smogon's official tournament scene unfortunately. Like my previous RMTs, this one showcases a few strange sets that work surprisingly well in their respective niches, and it also introduced a couple of useful sets to the metagame such as bulky Toxic Excadrill and SpDef Mega Sableye. It is also the first ORAS OU team to feature the increasingly popular trio of Sableye, Talonflame and Clefable.
I really enjoy the introduction of all of these new megas, especially Mega Sableye who seems to have created a lot of room for creativity and innovation in team-building. Also I like Mega Sableye's design, and I want to demonstrate what this thing is capable of doing outside of its typical defensive CM sweeper role on full stall teams.
audino spumoni
Other accounts: Branflakes325 (peaked #1 suspect ladder); Sablenite (peaked #2)
Other accounts: Branflakes325 (peaked #1 suspect ladder); Sablenite (peaked #2)
The Team
Stall and semi-stall teams enjoy taking advantage of free turns as much as any team would, and one way to acquire these free turns is by maintaining momentum. This is how VoltTurn cores/teams thrive, and this team applies the same principles of preserving momentum to a more defensive playstyle. The benefits of maintaining momentum through use of VoltTurn are easily noticeable against common stall cores (Chansey, Skarmory, Slowbro, MVenu, etc), and thus this team rarely has problems with any kind of opposing stall. At the same time it performs well at walling and wearing down most of OU's most threatening powerhouses.
Team Building Process
The team began with a balanced core that seemed really effective on paper: Sableye and Talonflame. Sableye does a good job keeping rocks away for Talonflame, who can burn the physical attackers that threaten Mega Sableye. The core was so effective in practice that these sets hadn't changed a bit since this first step of building the team.
I took the simple all-purpose balance approach and slapped "landwash" onto the team. It's one of the most reliable VoltTurn cores that brought a lot to the team offensively and defensively.
I made the questionable decision of using Scarf Greninja, which at the time was an effective surprise against Mega Salamence and opposing Scarf Landorus-T. That was before people started investing in Mega Salamence's special bulk to prevent Rotom-W from breaking its subs. SpDef MG Clefable was included for Wish-passing and Heal Bell, both from which the team greatly benefited.
Mono-attacking bulky Salamence quickly became the most common set, and it just so happened to be countered by fellow table Avalugg of all things. Avalugg, being able to use Mega Mence as spin fodder, was a surprisingly effective replacement that also mitigated my team's weakness to Banded Azumarill which was/is fairly common. Gliscor replaced Landorus-T because I wanted a second Taunt user that was cooler looking and less prone to being worn down. Umbreon replaced Clefable because it seemed to be a better specially defensive cleric with Foul Play to deal with some of the physical attackers that used cleric Clefable as setup fodder.
I replaced physically defensive Avalugg with specially defensive Excadrill and specially defensive Umbreon with physically defensive Clefable. At the time, I designated the Mence-countering role to Rotom-W by running both Will-O-Wisp and HP Ice, so I didn't need to take such drastic measures as to using Avalugg lol. My team was awfully weak to offensive fairies as Mega Diancie (and gardevoir) started to gain popularity, and thus Excadrill was my best answer while still providing important utility with Rapin Spin. Considering my team was still way too vulnerable to setup sweepers, I ended up replacing Umbreon with Unaware Clefable. Wish passing was no longer really necessary, but I kept Heal Bell for team support and making Clefable a dangerous setup sweeper.
After Mega Mence's was banned, I had the freedom of replacing Rotom-W with something preferably bulkier and less easily worn down. However, I still wanted a bulky water-type that could preserve momentum while having the capability to stay healthy and spread burns via Scald. The two contenders for this spot were BP Vaporeon and U-Turn Manaphy. I saw no reason to use Vaporeon unless I needed Roar, which I didn't because my team already had Unaware, Taunt-users and strong priority to deal with setup.
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Team Breakdown
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Sableye
Item: Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Nature: Careful (+SpD, -SpA)
•
• Knock Off
• Will-O-Wisp
• Recover
Mega Sableye is by far the most defensively stable Magic Bounce user, and this set aims to take full advantage of its amazing abilities. SpDef MSableye's performance is somewhat of a one-man-show, as its weaknesses are usually covered by any standard team format and it can hold its own against such a vast number of common physical and special attackers in OU. It does this by knocking off items, for instance, Naive Landorus-I has an 18% chance to KO Sableye with two Earth Powers before succumbing to Recover stall and doing only 37.9 - 44.8% per hit. Almost all physical attackers fear Will-O-Wisp and/or Foul Play, thus giving Sableye a free turn to mega evolve if Magic Bounce benefits the team more. M-Sableye is also a 100% counter to Ferrothorn; therefore it doesn't matter if the rest of my team is walled by it (which it is for the most part lol).
The most common and predictable Sableye set is currently defensive CM, which takes away from Sableye's amazing utility by somewhat confining it to the role of the setup sweeper with a bit of redundancy in defensive investment + Will-o-wisp before it acquires any boosts. This is not to say that CM Sableye is lacking in utility. It obviously does its job excellently, but Mega Sableye is capable of putting in just as much work on the special side. Considering Sableye is rather self-sufficient, most of the original team was put together without a real attempt to support it or build around it. Rather, the rest of the team was designed to benefit from Sableye. It is the support.
EDIT: Fake Out is currently being used over Foul Play/Protect. It guarantees that Sableye can mega evolve safely in any given situation, while also being incredibly useful for first turn scouting and revealing leftovers. Protect often baits setup moves from Talonflame, sub CM Keldeo, Zard X, Clefable, Azumarill, etc. It's a low-risk move that does almost no damage, yet it puts Sableye and/or the rest of the team in an advantageous situation at the start of a match.
Excadrill
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 220 HP / 252 SpD / 36 Spe
Nature: Careful (+SpD, -SpA)
• Earthquake
• Iron Head
• Toxic
• Rapid Spin
Mega Sableye can't be burdened with keeping hazards off its side 100% of the time. So I wanted a defogger/spinner (preferably the latter), and I had difficulty looking for one that could find frequent opportunities to switch in and get its job done. The spinner slot originally belonged to Avalugg who actually wasn't awful, given that the team was developed during the "Enter Mega Mence" era. However, the anticipation of physical attackers wielding special coverage, coupled with its SR-weak spinner issues left me wanting something better. My team needed a steel type, which limited my options to Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor and Excadrill.
Specially defensive Excadrill was an idea that immediately stuck out because of my weakness to special-attacking fairies, namely Clefable, Mega Diancie, Mega Gardevoir and Specs Sylveon. I was immediately impressed by Excadrill's deceptively fat 110/60/65 defenses. As we know from Alomomola and Chansey, a high HP stat does a great job offsetting low base defenses, and Excadrill has an amazing defensive typing to take advantage of that. Dual stab is all Excadrill needs to KO whatever it switches into, including but not limited to Mega Gardevoir, Mega Diancie, Magnezone, Bulky Rotom-W (watch out for wisp), Clefable, Gengar, Latios/Latias, Raikou, non-offensive Zapdos and Specs Sylveon. Toxic allows Excadrill to stop Mega Sableye by mold breaking through Magic Bounce, and it's also useful for inflicting status on obvious Lando-T switch-ins among other things. Mega Gardevoir and Mega Diancie are almost incapable of KOing Excadrill with Focus Blast and Earth Power respectively (save for two high rolls from Gardevoir) if you switch in on any of their STAB moves. Without attack investment, Excadrill can still OHKO back and deal serious damage to most of the tier.
I opted for leftovers over Assault Vest because you can't just slap AV on anything to make it bulky. This set's purpose is to be able to repeatedly switch into attacks for the sake of checking/countering opponents and scouting. Thus, Leftovers recovery adds up quickly and makes it so that +0/+1 Clefable Flamethrowers/Fire Blasts can be taken with relative ease, meaning that Excadrill can switch directly into any Clefable set repeatedly (bar modest LO fireblast). Also Mold Breaker Toxic is a cool surprise when your opponent thinks they've already sealed the victory with Mega Sableye. EVs are for out-speeding def Lando-T and having additional speed creep for Rotom-W and Venusaur (ty chimpact).
252 SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 107-126 (25.2 - 29.7%)
252 SpA Mega Gardevoir Focus Blast vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 294-348 (69.3 - 82%)
~15% chance to KO
252 SpA (160) Diancie Moonblast vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 85-101 (20 - 23.8%)
252 SpA (160) Diancie Earth Power vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 216-256 (50.9 - 60.3%)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 204-240 (48.1 - 56.6%)
252 SpA Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 124-148 (29.2 - 34.9%)
4 SpA Clefable Fire Blast vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 144-170 (33.9 - 40%)
0 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Iron Head vs. 220 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 198-234 (50.2 - 59.3%)
252 SpA Mega Gardevoir Focus Blast vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 294-348 (69.3 - 82%)
~15% chance to KO
252 SpA (160) Diancie Moonblast vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 85-101 (20 - 23.8%)
252 SpA (160) Diancie Earth Power vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 216-256 (50.9 - 60.3%)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 204-240 (48.1 - 56.6%)
252 SpA Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 124-148 (29.2 - 34.9%)
4 SpA Clefable Fire Blast vs. 220 HP / 252+ SpD Excadrill: 144-170 (33.9 - 40%)
0 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Iron Head vs. 220 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 198-234 (50.2 - 59.3%)
Manaphy
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
• Scald
• U-turn
• Rain Dance
• Rest
Manaphy rounds off most of my team's special-side weaknesses and is the first essential component of my U-Turn core. Honestly I didn't even know Manaphy had U-Turn until I actively searched for a Rotom-W replacement with either U-Turn, Volt Switch or Baton Pass. Specially defensive Manaphy walls/checks strong special attackers such as Greninja, Heatran and Landorus-I, while preserving momentum in these situations. Manaphy is usually a fearsome setup sweeper, and thus most opponents do not react to it as they would a Vaporeon or Alomomola. The fear of a Tail Glow/Calm Mind set often forces opponents to switch, in which case U-Turn is used to grab momentum. I would go more indepth in my explanation, but this is pretty much all it does besides spamming scald lol. Gliscor with Taunt is an excellent partner to Manaphy as it can Taunt opposing Chansey and set up rocks and/or keep the momentum by using its own U-turn after taunting. The four moves it has are essential to the team's success, which unfortunately leaves no room for Calm Mind or Tail Glow. Rain Dance + Rest keeps Manaphy invulnerable to being worn down by status, and also offers it a much-needed means of recovery as a special wall. The rain turns also mitigate this team's partial weakness to Fire-type attackers, though you need to be cautious about using Rain Dance in the face of opposing Keldeo and certain Scald spammers. It's worth noting that Manaphy has significantly better mixed defenses than Vaporeon.
Why not Tail Glow or Calm Mind? Because the team is not at all designed for supporting a Manaphy sweep. I use Manaphy for its raw bulk and self sufficiency as a wall, and thus having a boosting move with a bulky spread would make Manaphy a very situational late game cleaner. Clefable already does that. More often than not, I would not find any opportunities to set up, and TG/CM would be a waste of a move slot. U-Turn helps tremendously when I do not want to kill my own momentum.
If Manaphy ends up getting banned from OU at any point in the future, its role can be performed well by this Vaporeon set:
Vaporeon
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 60 HP / 196 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
IVs: 0 Atk
• Scald
• Baton Pass
• Rain Dance
• Rest
Functions almost exactly the same as Manaphy. Its mixed defenses are slightly inferior to that of Manaphy because of its crappy base 60 defense. I have yet to determine whether or not it would be best to capitalize on Vaporeon's superior special bulk. Baton Pass is usually a bit inferior to U-Turn because of the lack of chip damage, but it gets the same job done. Baton Pass actually has the benefit of not making contact with Ferrothorn, though it doesn't lure in Ferro quite like Manaphy does. Vaporeon has a stronger scald too.
Also if you're that guy who doesn't like using legendaries then I guess this set is for you lol
Gliscor
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
• Earthquake
• U-turn
• Taunt
• Stealth Rock
Defensive Gliscor's spread and typing compliment Manaphy's almost perfectly outside of bolt-beam coverage, and is arguably the most essential member of the team for shutting down opposing stall. This set bears similarities to defensive Landorus-T, whom Gliscor replaced with having utility as a status-absorber and stall-breaker. Being on the receiving end of U-turn while having its own U-Turn and Taunt makes it incredibly difficult for standard stall cores to do anything, oftentimes wearing them down without offering free turns on which most stall teams thrive. Gliscor obviously has the ability to check strong physical attackers such as Excadrill, Bisharp and Landorus-T, and is one of the team's greatest Knock Off sponges in situations where Clefable and Sableye should be kept as healthy as possible. This set lacks speed investment because of the many cases in which having a slower U-Turn is more desirable.
Talonflame
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 60 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
• Brave Bird
• Will-O-Wisp
• Taunt
• Roost
Talonphlegm is by far the strongest and fastest member of the team, but it is also the most frail and most difficult to switch in. Manaphy and Gliscor are amazing at providing safe opportunities for Talonflame to come in and cripple almost anything in the tier with the correct move. I'm not sure how common this set is, but it's a more offensive variation of the SpDef stall-breaker set you usually see. Adamant Brave Bird is enough to make Talonflame an excellent revenge killer, late game cleaner and offensive check to many fast attackers such as Greninja (76.5 - 90.2%) and Gengar (90.4 - 106.8%). Having two Taunt users is anything but redundant, as it makes Talonflame a useful stall-breaking partner after Gliscor uses U-turn. Will-O-Wisp may also seem redundant, but the ease of spreading burns between Sableye/Talonflame's Will-O-Wisp and Manaphy's Scald makes it difficult for physical attackers to do anything safely. It also helps tremendously with wearing down any team, while offering Talonflame an alternative method of dealing damage when Brave Bird is resisted or undesirable due to recoil. The 60 EVs in speed allow Talonflame to outspeed Jolly Excadrill, allowing Talonflame to burn it and potentially survive a subsequent Rock Slide. The rest of the EVs went into HP to give it some much needed bulk.
-2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Excadrill Rock Slide vs. 192 HP / 4 Def Talonflame: 291-343 (84.3 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Clefable
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 48 SpD / 8 Spe
Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
IVs: 0 Atk
• Moonblast
• Calm Mind
• Heal Bell
• Moonlight
It's only a little bit of a coincidence that I have Clefable (or clefairy lol) on almost every team I've posted. Its abilities to wall, support and potentially sweep are almost unparalleled in OU, and I often find it covering many of my teams' weaknesses. The rest of my team has issues with a wide range of setup sweepers, many of which would end up losing 1v1 against Unaware Clefable. Heal Bell helps mitigate Unaware Clefable's weakness to damaging status. It also helps for the many instances of Sableye getting burned by Scald/Lava Plume and Manaphy being forced to Rest without setting up rain first. Unfortunately Heal Bell has a downside of healing TO Gliscor, which can be problematic if Gliscor takes a Knock Off. Flamethrower/Fireblast coverage is pretty useless since Ferrothorn is easily handled by Sableye. Moonlight over Softboiled because Softboiled is illegal with Unaware.
Updated EVs allow Clefable to live +2 Adamant Mega Gyarados Waterfall (mold breaker ignores unaware) with remaining EVs and Calm nature (+SpDef) to take less damage from Keldeo, Manaphy and other special setup sweepers.
+2 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Waterfall vs. 248 HP / 204 Def Clefable: 331-390 (84.2 - 99.2%)
252 Atk Sharp Beak Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 204 Def Clefable: 174-205 (44.2 - 52.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers
252 Atk Mega Lopunny Return vs. 248 HP / 204 Def Clefable: 174-205 (44.2 - 52.1%)
252 SpA Keldeo Scald vs. 248 HP / 48+ SpD Clefable: 123-145 (31.2 - 36.8%)
252 SpA Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 48+ SpD Clefable: 169-199 (43 - 50.6%)
252 SpA Manaphy Scald vs. 248 HP / 48+ SpD Clefable: 103-123 (26.2 - 31.2%)
252 Atk Sharp Beak Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 204 Def Clefable: 174-205 (44.2 - 52.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers
252 Atk Mega Lopunny Return vs. 248 HP / 204 Def Clefable: 174-205 (44.2 - 52.1%)
252 SpA Keldeo Scald vs. 248 HP / 48+ SpD Clefable: 123-145 (31.2 - 36.8%)
252 SpA Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 48+ SpD Clefable: 169-199 (43 - 50.6%)
252 SpA Manaphy Scald vs. 248 HP / 48+ SpD Clefable: 103-123 (26.2 - 31.2%)
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Threats
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If you don't have one of the things listed below, chances are you will find yourself in an unfavorable match-up against this team. Feel free to point out anything I'm missing here. As far as I know, there is nothing that straight up counters or sweeps this team without severely weakening it first or relying on misplays.
Rain teams are focused on hitting harder and faster than any other type of offense. Setup sweepers (see below) give Clefable a lot of trouble because of rain boosted STAB and diminished Moonlight recovery. My own Manaphy is important for dealing with opposing rain teams by taking advantage of Hydration Rest, Scald burns and switch-in opportunities thanks to U-Turn. Rain Offense becomes a problem when I cannot cripple its strong physical attackers.
This particular set is the single most difficult setup sweeper to stop and revenge kill, even for Unaware Clefable. Moonlight recovery gets reduced in the rain and cannot keep up with its own CM boosts if Manaphy manages to inflict Scald burns.
Half the threat of Charizard is not being certain about which mega stone it has. Considering Zard Y is often paired with Tyranitar, it's risky to set up rain with Manaphy and attempt to go for Hydration + Rest. Zard X cannot defeat Clefable without taking significant damage, which usually leaves it in KO range for Talonflame if sacrificing Clefable is necessary.
Like Charizard, part of what makes Azumarill threatening is figuring out what set its running. With the correct move, Azumarill can 2HKO or OHKO anything on my team, and even resisted STAB does a lot of damage.
Modest can 2HKO my entire team. Other fairies are reliably handled by Excadrill, but Modest Focus Blast is too strong and guarantees a KO if Excadrill takes damage from Hyper Voice or Psyshock upon switching in.
Mamoswine
Mega Pinsir
Sub Mega Gyarados
Sharp Beak Taunt SD Talonflame
I fear the day Volcanion gets released. I'm pretty sure both defensive and offensive sets would be come very popular and it would be able to easily tear this team apart :(
Replays
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-190601559
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-187062522
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188636327
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-187599691
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-187627186
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188153067
Have fun if you try this team out!
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 220 HP / 252 SpD / 36 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Rain Dance
- Rest
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Roost
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 48 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Heal Bell
- Moonlight
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 220 HP / 252 SpD / 36 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Rain Dance
- Rest
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Roost
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 48 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Heal Bell
- Moonlight
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