VGC Help me pick a Mega :)

Hey guys, so this is a Trick Room team I put together after watching worlds and deciding that Machamp was too fun to pass up having a test of :) I unfortunately hate Mega Charizard-Y with a passion so decided to try and change things up a bit. The basis of the team is simply to get Trick Room up and then hit hard with wide coverage. Here's how it's looking so far:



PurpleSpaceDuck (Cresselia) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Skill Swap
- Trick Room

Stolen from Mark McQuillan's team, EV's & IV's Guessed - It always leads, it always sets up trick room within 2 turns. The only time I can think it could fail would be against a Fake Out/Prankster-Taunt duo where the first turn you get Faked Out and Taunted, the mental herb gets used, and then you get Taunted again second turn. This has never happened yet but if you can think a way around this please let me know. I'm still not sold on Skill Swap, I don't think it complements the team as much without the Megazard-Y and I'm leaning more towards recovery in Moonlight right now.



GreenMuscle (Machamp) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: No Guard
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Wide Guard
- Knock Off

Again, stolen from Mark McQuillan's World's team, EV's & IV's Guessed. No changes as the whole point of this team was to see how well this does. (Just to let you know, it's doing really well!!)



GreenDino (Nidoqueen) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb

Stolen from Bennett Piercy's US Nationals team. Changed the nature as I wanted minimum speed for TR. Swapped out Protect for Thunderbolt for more coverage - still in debate about whether to put protect back on there. It has the same role as in Bennett's team, just instead of it relying on tailwind, it uses TR instead. It often leads with Cress, it's bulky enough to take a couple super effective hits as it doesn't have investment in speed and usually takes down 2 pokes before it's time's up.



PurpleKid (Kangaskhan) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fake Out
- Low Kick
- Return
- Sucker Punch

I'm using this as the Mega right now just because I love Mega-Kang as a sash breaker. As you can see by the moveset though it's quite similar to Machamp with the Fighting & Dark moves and I've only been bringing it when nothing else is really beneficial and the extra firepower/ability to break a sash could help.



PurpleBug (Volcarona) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Used this a lot in different teams, usually with tailwind mind you, but this is a slow, harder hitting variant still with some bulk. I usually run this with Heat Wave as well but as this is the sole fire type attack on the team I didn't want to get walled by a Wide Guard next to a Scizor so chose single target instead.



KindOfPurpleCat (Sylveon) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Protect

This is actually mashed up from a couple Worlds teams (I forget which ones now). Basically there to provide the fairy type mon everyone hates to see and the fairy type coverage everyone should have. Other attacks are usual coverage.


Below is a couple of team calculators I use when putting together teams to help you see how things are looking. The first is better for seeing type weakness and resistances, and the second is better for seeing attack coverage in comparison to what the team is weak against.

upload_2015-8-31_5-43-44.png



upload_2015-8-31_5-42-48.png

I know this shows Nidoking - I was tired when I did it :p

New Mega suggestions include:


Steelix (Steelix) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Gyro Ball
- Double Edge??
- Protect

Unfortunately this would mean more weaknesses to Water and Ground so Nidoqueen would probably have to be replaced, and with what I have no idea.


Mawile (Mawile) @ Mawileite
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Play Rough??
- Protect

Again, due to the added ground weakness this would probably mean having to remove Nidoqueen, or perhaps replacing Sylveon with a ground immunity and shifting some movesets about a bit.


Swampert (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Waterfall
- Double Edge??
- Protect

Typing is decent, not really a fan of the x4 weakness but it can be played around, the ability is actually a hindrance though.

I feel like I'm going round in circles, any thoughts are appreciated :)

Thanks,
Garble
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Serapis

Losing my way to Victory
Note: Tell me if you're interested in the TailRoom suggestion. If so, I can elaborate more on it and how it would effect your team in terms of EV spreads ext. For this review I focused on the Pokemon and moves more than the spreads.

Okay, where to start?

Well, let's try Volcarona. I understand your logic with the set, however I think you should at least try using Tailwind over Will-o-Wisp. Although you currently have a very Trick Room oriented team, Tailwind Volcarona would allow you to set up a fast sweeping mode in games where Trick Room doesn't seem like the best option for one reason or another. (Say, they have a Bisharp and you think they'll lead it. Now, which would you rather have against a Bisharp, Cress or Volc?) Since a lot of your Pokemon are midling speed, they can work well enough under Tailwind with a little speed investment and it won't really hurt your TR mode too much because they still underspeed the things they need to. I'd also advise running Safety Goggles as the item because of your team's weakness to Breloom. With Safety Goggles, Volcarona can switch in on anything Breloom wants to do bar the practically heard of Rock Tomb. It also allows you to beat opposing Amoonguss under Trick Room. 28 Speed EVs let you outspeed Adamant Bisharp, and under Tailwind you outspeed pretty much everything in the game. Ofc, using TailRoom depends on your choices with the rest of the team.

For Cress, I highly suggest that you drop Toxic. Toxic only really covers things like Calm Mind Cresselia, Recover Milotic and Roost Zapdos. Besides the fact that many of them are easy enough to deal with, I feel that simply using Toxic instead of adjusting your team to actually be able to cope with them is a poor choice (Gastro alone causes Milo issues and straight up beats Zapdos). Psychic, Moonlight, Calm Mind, and Helping Hand all make for good options in that slot. Skill Swap is a move that's all about personal preference. If you like it, keep it. If not, drop it for another supportive move. You can also sub out Cress entirely for Gothitlle, but more on that later.

Sylveon is next. Pixie Plate is a good set, however I truly believe that you should run Calm Mind on it. Not only does Calm Mind make non Specs Sylveon much more threatening, it also meshes well with Trick Room. One of the most common ways to beat Trick Room not know as Amoonguss is to Protect stall out the turns. Because of this, you will be able to pressure opponents by getting up free boosts and then dealing massive damage in the turns afterwards. I would suggest you drop Shadow Ball for Calm Mind. Also, as a note, the same sort of logic applies with TailRoom and free boosts.

Now, onto Nidoqueen. If you decide to keep it, I say you should use Protect over Thunderbolt. Still, considering your team's weakness to Water type, I'm not all that sold on it. Honestly, and no offense meant to him, but Bennett Piercy is a meh player. I watched him at US Nats and he wouldn't have made it nearly as far as he did without serious RNG backing him. Now, more importantly, I believe that Gastrodon would fill that slot well as it not only provides a Water type immunity it also gives the rest of your team protection for Water types. It would probably run a moveset of Scald/Earth Power/Ice Beam/Protect, achieving mostly the same coverage that Nidoqueen offers you at the moment. Expert Belt would make a good item to preserve bulk while increasing damage output. The only thing you lose is a resistance to Fairy. Speaking of which. . .

I believe that your team's lack of a Steel type is a major issue. For Steel type Megas you really have Steelix, Metagross and Mawile. Steelix is a rather lackluster Pokemon outside of Sand, and even in it, the support required to keep it functioning is unappealing. With Metagross you have a much faster option that could potentially compliment TailRoom very well. Especially if you use Metagross' excellent defensive stats, you could have a real monster on your hands. Mawile. . . now that's a totally different story. Mawile would be a cool option, but if you decide to go that route I would advise against TailRoom. I also think that if you're going to use Mawile you should pair it up with Gothitlle. To clarify, the team would look like Gothitlle/Mawile/Gastrodon or Nidoqueen/Volcarona/Sylveon/Machamp.


So. . .

I feel that you should chose between altering your team to be TailRoom or dedicating yourself to Trick Room. If you chose to use Trick Room, I feel you you need to chose a Mega and then move on from there. Hopefully this was helpful, and I hope to hear back from you!
 
Hi,

Thanks for such an in depth reply, really helpful!!

(btw I'm never teambuilding at 5am again - as soon as I read Gastrodon I felt like slapping myself for not thinking of it lol, I couldn't get past Porygon2 not having earth power haha)

Ok so based on what you've said I'm thinking of a couple options. Both are TR based as I'm not a major fan of, or that comfortable with, Tailwind (ikr?!)... to explain I much prefer Paralysis as a form of speed control, because it shuts down even tailwind, and with the amount of T-Waving, Taunting Thundies around I've just never been able to make good use of it.

So, to try and save you time I'm just going to throw the full teams out with basic detail, hopefully it should be enough:

@ Mental Herb : Helping Hand/Tickle - Psychic - Heal Pulse - Trick Room
@ Sitrus Berry : Dynamic Punch - Stone Edge - Knock Off - Wide Guard
@ Mawilite : Rock Slide - Iron Head - Play Rough - Protect
@ Safety Goggles : Fiery Dance - Bug Buzz - Will-O-Wisp - Protect
@ Expert Belt : Scald - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Protect
@ Pixie Plate : Hyper Voice - Calm Mind - Shadow Ball - Protect


Gothitelle's Helping Hand/Tickle + Mawile puts out some serious damage. Heal Pulse because why not.
Wide guard still has it's usefulness stopping heat waves into Mawile and Rock Slides into Volc.
Safety goggles on Volc because as you rightly said, I've got no other way to counter spore.
Gastro because of all the reasons you said above.
Calm Mind on Sylveon as you suggested, however I've left Shadow Ball on instead of Psyshock as it gives just that little bit wider coverage.

I feel with Mawile being there Sylveon could possibly be replaced with something more useful but I need a think as to what. And right now that looks pretty good typing wise, I'll check out fully along with coverage and post later.


The second thing that came to mind was:
@ Mental Herb : Sunny Day - Ice Beam- Helping Hand - Trick Room
@ Sitrus Berry : Dynamic Punch - Stone Edge - Knock Off - Wide Guard
@ Venusaurite : Giga Drain - Sludge Bomb - Solar Beam - Protect
@ Safety Goggles : Heat Wave - Flash Cannon - Will-O-Wisp - Protect
@ Expert Belt : Scald - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Protect
@ Pixie Plate : Hyper Voice - Calm Mind - Shadow Ball - Protect


Yeah I know, swap Solar Beam out for Leech Seed and replace that Sunny Day back to Skill Swap for PreishTrap teams - but it would be pretty hype right?!

I think all the typings cover each other quite nicely here, got that steel type in heatran and the coverage looks sound - again I'll do a check and post later.

Let me know your thoughts, and thanks again!
 
Last edited:

Serapis

Losing my way to Victory
Solar Beam Mega-Venu hype is real, I agree. Anyway, as for my thoughts; this is the part of an RMT where you have to chose what you personally prefer in a team. I, as a player, would opt for the Goth Maw team because it's more offensive in nature; however the Mega-Venu team is definitely more solid defensively. The fact that Venusuar is a Mega immune to Spore is also certainly a selling point. To be quite honest, the additional bulk and switching power of the Mega-Venusaur team makes it the better option in my opinion.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top