So A few weeks ago I made a Rate my team about a Mega Gallade team, and the suggestions on that were really great, however, I did not like the playstyle of that team and I did not seem to do so well with it. Then, someone wrote me a message to try out the Mega-Gallade and bisharp core. So I did some research and figured out some common pokemon used on these teams. After some testing out I made some modifications and also figured out some checks and counters of the team, and I think I am ready to present it to you guys and take suggestions.
Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
So, starting up the core is Mega-Gallade. While there might be some better physical sweepers in OU I think with a base 165 attack Gallade can still shred through teams. I prefer the jolly nature over the admant because I think at +2 even more attack is kind of redundant and whats important then is outspeeding and picking up Knockouts. The set itself is pretty standard, but I run Ice punch over knock off for better coverage as the second part of my core is already running knock off. Ice punch also helps knocking out many common dragons in the tier such as garchomp, dragonite and Mega altaria, as well as dealing with flying types that try to scare gallade out.
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
Rounding up the core(Even though only two pokemon are in the core :p) is Bisharp. It has very good synergy with Gallade as it can trap in any ghost types such as gengar, which would be deadly to gallade because most ghost types like to set burns on sweepers. It also can scare out any fairy types that Gallade would have trouble with such as Mega gardevoir, and once again Mega altaria, and if I predict switches and go into gallade I can sometimes get a free swords dance up. As mentioned before knock off is not being run on Gallade because it is on bisharp and dual coverage is not necessary. I run black glasses over the Life orb because I feel taking residual damage is not needed when three of bisharps moves are dark type anyway. I also run Adamant nature simply because I feel jolly is not needed due to priority in sucker punch.
Volcarona @ Passho Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe/4 HP
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery dance
- Giga Drain
- Bug Buzz
Volcarona is one of my favorite sweepers because of how common people fall for the passho berry. I will send volcarona in on something running scald or hydro pump, take half damage from it, set up a quiver dance and finish with giga drain. Volcarona is also my back up sweeper and it works well with gallade because they have very different coverage and one is a special attacker. Volcarona is also my answer to Mega sableye, who would otherwise be hunting Gallade and Bisharp throughout the entire match. The set is very standard. The situation for giga drain was mentioned earlier, and Bug Buzz and Fiery dance for stab. I run Fiery dance over fire blast because of accuracy and when you get a free special attack raise it pays off very well. Volcarona also heavily supports Bisharp because sets such as assault vest conkeldurr and other fighting types will be after bisharp and Volcarona can wall them pretty easily.
Landorus-Therian @ Soft Sand
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock off
- Stealth Rock
Landorus can be a very solid Lead for this team. If I predict correctly it can earn me free rocks or a strong hit against anything. If a bad lead opens It can U-turn out and go possibly into Rotom-Wash to take the hit. Then I can take the initiative by getting off some possible volt-turn action going or volt switch out into a better counter. Earthquake is the main STAB move and helps protect bisharp against fire types. While Landorus does not have the best base speed speed investment still helps outspeed things such as defensive landorus set. Finally, I am running knock off instead of Rock slide because I think it has some excellent utility and not very many people expect it.
Rotom-Wash @ sitrus berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
The team kind of lacked some natural bulk to it so I added in Rotom-Wash to tank heavy hits, and with this set it walls nearly every physical attacker in the tier. Volt Switch is the second half to the Volt-Turn that landorus and Rotom have access to. Pain split has excellent utility to lower health of walls such as Chansey and Clefable who can get to very high Hit point ranges. Wil-O-Wisp can cripple walls and scare out many physical attacker giving a chance to send in Gallade or Volcarona on the switch. Hydro pump is the main stab move, which can get rid of threats such as talonflame which Gallade does not appreciate.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Rapid Spin
I am running an offensive spinner set on Starmie because The rest of the team is mainly trying to get initiative and Starmie can support that with good coverage. Ice Beam can take out flying types which Volcarona and Gallade do not like. I am running Hydro pump over surf because I feel on all the other pokemon I am running Good accuracy. Hydro pump is also the main stab. Psyshock can remove special walls in the tier such as chancey or can punish fighting types, which once again bisharp does not like. Rapid spin is ran to remove hazards which can cripple my volt-turn synergy on Rotom-Wash and Lando-T.
Conclusion
Overall, The team is very offensively built, which you might have noticed with the offensive sets on Landorus and starmie instead of the defensive sets. This is the case because I dont Like to have half the team offensive and just run stall sets on the other half because it messes with a lot of the synergy the team has. If you have made it this far I would like to thank you a lot for reading and If you have any suggestions for move, pokemon or set replacements please leave them below.
