SM OU Volcarona+Lele BO

[Froozh]

I've been playing Showdown for a good while, and generally my ceiling has been 1400 or so. This has generally been due to

• My desire to put some niche/heat set on a team
• My inability to account for most threats
• My relative lack of skill at pokemon

Now, though, I had a strong desire to exit my seemingly permanent mid/low ladder home. So, I checked out the OU chat room to see what mons people wanted to ban. Two kept showing up: Volcarona and Tapu Lele. I thought these two would work well together, as they both have the power to run through opposing teams on their own and synergize decently well. Psychic Terrain stops Volcarona from losing to M-Pinsir's and Band Zygarde's priority, and Volcarona can switch into Magearna relatively safely and set up if they don't volt switch. I actually broke 1500 recently, so the team does work well for me, but I definitely feel there are some weaknesses. (If this team looks like I copied someone, I swear I didn't, but it's very standard so it is probably just similar to theirs.)

Now, onto the team:

Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EV spread: 252 spe/252 spa/4 spd
Timid Nature

• Quiver Dance
• Bug Buzz
• Flamethrower
• Giga Drain

Once this mon's checks/counters have been weakened, it is pretty much a wrap. Although I have been hearing some rumblings about bug buzz + swarm, I feel Volcarona is too frail to be able to utilize it. I used HP Ground for a bit, but I actually have enough Heatran checks/counters on my team, so I went with bug buzz to get past the latis/ttar/spdef mew. Timid is used to beat the opposing scarf lando-t/drill/lele, as I felt this mon hit hard enough after a boost. This mon actually took some getting used to for me; I cleaned way more with Lele than Volcarona until I figured out how to play it better. Now I just switch into Magearna and boost fairly safely. Anyway, this mon is very tough to counter.

Tapu Lele@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EV spread: 252 spe/252 spa/4 spd
Timid Nature

• Psyshock
• Moonblast
• HP Fire
• Thunderbolt

As of writing this, I realize how dumb it is to have tbolt on this thing. The most it's ever done is ko the unsuspecting Mantine, but shadow ball is probably best to beat opposing leles and hurt Jirachi if it switches in. Psyshock over psychic to hurt opposing Chansey more, among other uses. This mon can also sweep, but more importantly can revenge kill mons like Greninja that threaten my team greatly. After these two mons, I was thinking how I could handle Chansey, as psyshock still didn't 2hko even w/ rocks. For my next mon, I chose...

Zygarde@ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EV spread: 240 HP/212 spd/52 spe
Careful Nature

• Substitute
• Coil
• Extremespeed
• Thousand Arrows

SubCoil Zygarde has been a very pleasant surprise for me. It can switch into Heatran, provided they don't run Lava Plume (because of burn chance), and takes <25 from Chansey's seismic toss. It also sets up on Ferrothorn, M-Sab, and even non-hp ice Lando-T. This helps against stall, and beats a lot of unsuspecting teams. I know it seems like E-speed is counterintuitive with Psychic Terrain, but Zygarde generally takes a while to set up and uses Thousand Arrows, so I haven't had a problem.

Scizor@ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EV spread: 248 hp/252 def/8 atk
Impish Nature

• Defog
• Bullet Punch
• U-turn
• Roost

It might seem weird to waste a Mega slot on a defogger, but Volcarona needs one so badly that bulky M-Sciz works quite well. It has great defenses, and helps with M-Gyara and Tapu Bulu. Scizor also counters Mimikyu for the most part, so I feel it is more than just a defogger. I also run 1 fewer speed ev's, so I can slow u-turn against opposing Mega Scizors.

Landorus-T@ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EV spread: 252 atk/252 spe/4 spa
Jolly Nature

• Stealth Rock
• Earthquake
• Fly
• HP ice

My Lando-t is cool because it can switch into opposing lando-t and hp ice for a 2hko. SSSS also ko's weakened, unsuspecting tapu fini, which means I don't have to worry about my rocks going away. I went with offensive rather than defensive because I wanted something that could revenge kill Heatran and deal damage to annoying walls. I rarely, if ever, lead with it, because your opponent always predicts that and leads with a counter, which is annoying. All in all, really solid.

Heatran@ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EV spread: 252 spa/252 hp/4 spd
Modest Nature

• Ancient Power
• Flamethrower
• Earth Power
• Taunt

It's funny, this mon's role has changed significantly since I put it on the team. At first, I wanted a 100% switch in to opposing Volcarona, and a mon that could break stall. Now, I realize ancient power doesn't even ohko Volcarona, and this mon is useless against Chansey. However, it stayed in the team because I still didn't have a counter to opposing Heatran, and my Heatran can switch in without fear of an earth power. I am considering running flash cannon > taunt to beat Lele, but I worry about being destroyed by TR.

Weaknesses/Threatlist:

Greninja: This thing has no switch-ins, but I especially struggle against it as virtually all of my mons can be one-shotted, except maybe scizor.

Any Strong Water type: Reflecting on my team, I realize I have no water resist at all. God forbid my Tapu Lele goes down and specs Ash-gren starts clicking Hydro Pump.

Stall: Maybe it is just me, but I struggle a lot against stall. Counting on Zygarde to beat all six mons generally doesn't work out.

Trick Room: Even though I have taunt on Heatran, a lot of TR teams run mental herb now.

Thanks for reading my first RMT. I am open to suggestions on how to improve my team.

Importable:
Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 240 HP / 212 SpD / 56 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Coil
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fly
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Defog
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Ancient Power
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower

 

[ez]

Yo cool team, here are some suggestions.

• Replace Heatran with Assault Vest Tangrowth. Currently, your team lacks a water resist. Tangrowth can help check water types like Keldeo and Greninja. For greninja however, I recommend you scout out the moveset so Tangrowth won't have to eat a Gunk Shot. I chose to replace Heatran because you already have another fire type in Volcarona plus Hidden Power Fire on Lele to help with steel types. Also, scizor can take on the role as a steel type to soak up Dragon attacks etc.
  
• Consider running Charti Berry over Life Orb on Volcarona. This allows Volcarona to take Rock moves from Scarfers that want to revenge kill like Keldeo making it easier for Volcarona to sweep. You should also consider replacing Bug Buzz with Hidden Power Ground allowing you to break through mons like Heatran and hit Toxapex harder.
  
• Replace Hidden Power Ice with Sword Dance on Landorus-therian. This can help you break through more defensive teams. You also have the option to run Hidden Power ice on Tangrowth instead which means Lando does not have to worry about checking ground types like Zygardge as much.

tangrowth set

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake

 

[Froozh]

ez thanks a ton for the suggestions. Been trying them out today and it plays solid. AV tang helps a lot with Zygarde and my water weakness.

 

[Chokepic]

Hi!

Firium z > Life orb & Hp ground > Bug Buzz.

Use this scizor spread instead of yours:

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 128 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn

That's all