ORAS OU If You're Reading This It's Too Late (Mega Diancie Semi Stall)

[OG Taco]

"But hearing the scriptures
with that many sixes
you should be afraid"



This is my first RMT, I originally started battling over at Pokecommunity around when Platinum was out, I recently started to play again though after a brief hiatus because I didn't want to play in a metagame where Greninja was still around. Obviously that's no longer the case though so I decided to make a Semi Stall team around Mega Diancie. Diancie is so freaking good at what it does, bouncing back moves and hitting like a truck at the same time. I decided to use that concept and build it into a semi stall team because A) hazards secure Diancie a ton of KOs and B) A lot of common defoggers give Diancie a free turn to switch in and threaten them out as soon as it mega evolves. I feel as though this team has a ton of potential to improve but I can't really find many improvements to go for.

Also listen to this track while you read this. This RMT is dedicated to Drake who dropped a bomb with his new mixtape "If You're Reading This, It's Too Late". Check it out if you haven't heard it. It's fire.

6 God (Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Diamond Storm
- Heal Bell

Let's start off with the star of this team. Mega Diancie is probably my most used pokemon in ORAS just because of how hard it hits and how useful it is to be able to bounce back hazards at will. I opted for the 3 Attack + Heal Bell variant after experimenting a lot with Protect and Hidden Power Fire. I felt as though Heal Bell is much more useful on a team that is so reliant on wearing the opponent down because I don't want to get worn down first. Gyarados can't absorb status all day because of how it's weak to Stealth Rock so Heal Bell helps keep some of the burden off of him. Heal Bell also lets me switch into defensive pokemon easier because usually they'll try to catch Diancie on the switch in before it Mega Evolves so that's pretty cool.

The main reason I chose to use Diancie on this team is because many common defoggers are easily threatened by Diancie. Mandibuzz can't do anything to it, Psyshock Mew gets set up on with Diamond Storm, and Zapdos gets wrecked by that same move. Lati@s don't really like having Diancie switch in because of its Moonblast too so that really leaves Skarmory as the only Pokemon that can reliably defog on this team. Since Skarm is pretty rare at the moment from what I've seen, Diancie gladly takes all those free turns that it creates.

6 Man (Chesnaught) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Spiky Shield
- Spikes
- Leech Seed

The first thing that came to mind when I picked Diancie and decided I wanted to play semi stall was that I needed A) Spikes, and B) a water and grass resist. Chesnaught does all that a more. It's probably the best user of it in the tier right now because it has the sheer physical bulk to Spike on pretty much any physical attacker in the tier. Leech Seed further increases the overall sturdiness of the team, and it's a blessing for pokemon such as Tyranitar who really can't afford to rely on just his leftovers recovery. Spiky Shield is a handy move for wearing down physical attackers that try to break through and Drain Punch is for a nice STAB move to keep me healthy and screw over Bisharp.

Smart play is usually the name of the game when it comes to using Chesnaught. Using the switches that Chesnaught creates gives me opportunities to use spikes and the way people play sometimes to counter that is to get reckless and throw their defogger out, only to be made mega evo bait for Diancie or get pursuited by Tyranitar.

Star67 (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Wish
- Protect

Next thing that I thought was I needed a good switch in to for the offensive fairies of the game, like Flamethrower-less Clefable and Gardevoir or other Diancies. I also needed someone with Wish so I could keep my team healthy in case I let them take too much damage. Enter Jirachi. Jirachi is still an absolutely brilliant pokemon, and Parahax is as effective as ever. The paralysis also has a sweet bonus effect of slowing down the opposing pokemon's team so Diancie can outspeed more. Base 110 speed is great, but not as great as it used to be. Its steel typing makes it a great secondary switch in into bird spam, especially Hurricanes because of its great special bulk. Between Body Slam and Wish, Jirachi fills a very important and unique role of being my main switch in to most of the special attackers in the tier.

Preach (Gyarados) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Roar
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Gyarados was picked because I needed a solid fighting type check and a pokemon that can switch into Landorus and Keldeo without much to fear. Gyarados punishes any pokemon that it can wall by coming in, intimidating them and then forcing them out with Roar. Gyarados acts as my back up method of dealing with status and it’s a solid pivot for a majority of the metagame’s because of its great typing and intimidate. The set is pretty standard for a defensive Gyara, but that doesn’t take away the effectiveness of it.

Madonna (Latias) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost
- Defog

I needed a secondary fighting resist and another ground resist. Defog is also nice to pack on this team in case the opponent sets up Stealth rocks and try to pressure Gyarados heavily. Latias is the perfect Pokemon for the role. Draco Meteor is the main STAB attack for smacking around anything that doesn’t resist it, and Hidden Power Fire is used mainly to catch Skarmory and Ferrothorn on the switch in because they can be pretty annoying since they don’t have anything to fear from 3 Attacks Diancie.

Roost and Defog provide me with the utility and the longevity to come in on plenty of resisted attacks and remove hazards, screens, and whatever else I need to get rid of. Latias is super pursuit bait for T-tar but often times that gives me a clean switch into Diancie, since a good amount nowadays are choiced. Diancie loooooooves that.

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

Last but definitely not least is Tyranitar. Tyranitar was chosen because I wanted Stealth Rock and Pursuit for the Lati twins. Those 2 are defoggers that consistently force me into 50/50s because of the speed tie with Mega Diancie and Psyshock does a surprisingly big amount of damage to it. So Tyranitar is here to make sure those pokemon are eliminated literally the turn they try defogging. This Tyranitar avoids all 2HKO’s from Life Orb Latios, excluding the incredibly rare Hidden Power Fighting or Grass Knot.

Ice Beam is to lure those pesky bulky ground types like defensive Landorus Therian and Gliscor that could otherwise be problematic for my team. Sand Offense is so problematic since my only real check to that is Chesnaught who gets destroyed by Landorus Incarnate so every little thing to help against that counts. Stone Edge is to better help check Bird spam and it’s my main form of offense on this guy.


​

 

[Thugly Duckling]

DRIZZY

 

[mael]

The core of Chesnaught/Rachi/Gyarados/Heatran really handles a majority of threats and does seem to cover most relevent stuff on the defensive side, but your teams seems just so passive to me. First and foremost you literally have only Diancie and hazards to do damage. The first one simply does not break through certain walls, and the latter gets removed by your own defog, which you will have to use, considering that your bulky water is weak to rocks. So you're kind of in a very passive position most of the time with this team. One thing that could probably help is remove Latias for an more offensive Starmie, which lets you keep hazards and yet gives you a way of removing the opponents, in which case you should run something like Expertbelt HP Fire with Analytic, you can afford to drop recover, since Starmie would receive wishes from Rachi through Heatra switch ins, but I wouldn't use LO since that would make your spinner die pretty soon from Recoil, Extra Damage and Sand, which you have in the form of TTar.

Another Option would be putting Dragon Dance over Roar on Gyarados. Resttalk DD Gyarados is a pretty solid wincondition against defensive teams, since they a lot of times lack a way of 3hko'ing it properly and if you give it a mega stone, you can even use Rotomw and similar weaker walls as set up fodder, but that would either mean getting rid of your Diancie or using 2 mega evos (lol). If you do use Dragon Dance, I'd also put a toxic spikes Tentacruel with Knock off > Latias, for the sake of getting rid of lefties on Pokemon like Ferrothorn, which are one of the few things on defensive teams stopping gyarados. Also putting Fire Blast > Ice Beam on Tyranitar could be an idea, since as it is, Ferrothorn annoys your team a lot and you can play tricky Pursuit chipdamage vs Fire Blast Mindgames against Pokemon like Ferrothorn.

Another, a bit more unconventional idea would be going for a defensive Gyarados Set without Resttalk. I was thinking about something along the lines of Roar/Waterfall/Taunt/Toxic. Your Gyarados doesn't mind not having recovery as much as other do, simply because you do have that Rachi to pass Wishes from, and using this set could give you a bit more opportunities to damage opponents and prevent certain Pokemon like, Skarmory from healing up, which again is a decent profit for Mega Diancie, since Skarm simply puts an end to it.

Doesn't matter what you do, I'd either use a different Latias Set, or preferably swap it out as a whole, for a Spinner, or if you're feeling ballsy for something that has offensive synergy with Diancie and put HP Fire on Diancie, but that's a rather risky change.

I like your defensive core with Jirachi/Chesnaught/Gyarados, but I think you're team's too passive overall, so I hope I could help you with my rate.

 

[OG Taco]

The core of Chesnaught/Rachi/Gyarados/Heatran really handles a majority of threats and does seem to cover most relevent stuff on the defensive side, but your teams seems just so passive to me. First and foremost you literally have only Diancie and hazards to do damage. The first one simply does not break through certain walls, and the latter gets removed by your own defog, which you will have to use, considering that your bulky water is weak to rocks. So you're kind of in a very passive position most of the time with this team. One thing that could probably help is remove Latias for an more offensive Starmie, which lets you keep hazards and yet gives you a way of removing the opponents, in which case you should run something like Expertbelt HP Fire with Analytic, you can afford to drop recover, since Starmie would receive wishes from Rachi through Heatra switch ins, but I wouldn't use LO since that would make your spinner die pretty soon from Recoil, Extra Damage and Sand, which you have in the form of TTar.

Another Option would be putting Dragon Dance over Roar on Gyarados. Resttalk DD Gyarados is a pretty solid wincondition against defensive teams, since they a lot of times lack a way of 3hko'ing it properly and if you give it a mega stone, you can even use Rotomw and similar weaker walls as set up fodder, but that would either mean getting rid of your Diancie or using 2 mega evos (lol). If you do use Dragon Dance, I'd also put a toxic spikes Tentacruel with Knock off > Latias, for the sake of getting rid of lefties on Pokemon like Ferrothorn, which are one of the few things on defensive teams stopping gyarados. Also putting Fire Blast > Ice Beam on Tyranitar could be an idea, since as it is, Ferrothorn annoys your team a lot and you can play tricky Pursuit chipdamage vs Fire Blast Mindgames against Pokemon like Ferrothorn.

Another, a bit more unconventional idea would be going for a defensive Gyarados Set without Resttalk. I was thinking about something along the lines of Roar/Waterfall/Taunt/Toxic. Your Gyarados doesn't mind not having recovery as much as other do, simply because you do have that Rachi to pass Wishes from, and using this set could give you a bit more opportunities to damage opponents and prevent certain Pokemon like, Skarmory from healing up, which again is a decent profit for Mega Diancie, since Skarm simply puts an end to it.

Doesn't matter what you do, I'd either use a different Latias Set, or preferably swap it out as a whole, for a Spinner, or if you're feeling ballsy for something that has offensive synergy with Diancie and put HP Fire on Diancie, but that's a rather risky change.

I like your defensive core with Jirachi/Chesnaught/Gyarados, but I think you're team's too passive overall, so I hope I could help you with my rate.

Hey first off, thanks for the rate.

I really like some of the ideas in the post, the one especially that I'm liking is the HP Analytic Starmie. It gives me a better way to keep hazards off of my side while also giving me a pokemon that can revenge kill stuff like Serperior while also being a great Ferrothorn lure.

I really like the DD Rest Talk gyara too but while it does give me a great win condition against defensive teams, it also leaves me very vulnerable towards some set up sweepers. One that comes to mind instantly is SD Gallade, who was also a big issue for this team, but removing Roar makes it all the more difficult to deal with. A nice hybrid could be a Roar, Waterfall, Taunt and DD Gyarados but I'm not exactly sure how that would go, I need to test that.