ORAS UU A Dragon with Cardboard Wings

[Galaxium]

Hello, and welcome to my first RMT (and post)! I want to try a team with Moxie DDMence, and it turned out to be a monster.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail
- Dragon Dance
Mence was obviously the star of this team. Dragon Claw was used over Outrage so it doesn't get trapped and screwed up if a fairy mon switched in. EQ was used for Empoleon and Nidoqueen, because the former completely walls Mence withouth EQ. Iron Tail was used to hit fairy types, like 2HKOing Florges. Dragon Dance raises Salamence's attack to insane levels, in which if Mence KOs a pokemon at +1, it's power will build thanks to Moxie.

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Empoleon @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Hydro Pump
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
Empoleon was always a great defogger thanks to its resistant to SR, and immunity to Toxic Spikes. Defog clears entry hazards like SR and Toxic Spikes. Hydro Pump OHKOs Defensive Arcanine, which was a big threat to this team. Grass Knot OHKOs Mega-pert and Cloyster, while pressuring Suicune without CM. Ice Beam hits grass types and Gligar. 84 Speed EVs may seem weird, but it outspeeds uninvested base 70s and below, such as Mega-Pert.

Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
M-Aggron was the physical tank of this team. Rocks are always important to have, being able to nab some KOs by other members. Roar was used for phazing, discouraging setup sweepers. Heavy Slam was the main STAB, dealing many damage to pokemon that aren't steel, water, fire, or electric type and pokemon that are mostly heavy. EQ hits fire and electric types, such as arcanine, entei and heliolisk. The EV spread was used to buff Aggron's Sp. Def a bit.

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Trick
Rotom-C was added to this team for bulky water types. Leaf Storm was a nice STAB move, hitting almost anything that doesn't resist it hard. Thunderbolt was a secondary STAB, hitting Water and Flying types. Volt Switch was used to scout and give momentum to the whole team. Trick cripples walls and pokemons that try to set up.

Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
Florges was added to this team because it was the best Sdef wall that i can think of. Wish is useful to pass to other team members, recovering them. Protect is a nice synergy with Wish, allowing Florges to heal herself. Aromatherapy clears up status, which was always nice to have. Moonblast is Florges' primary STAB moves, hitting special Dark, Dragon and Fighting pokemon such as Hydreigon and M-Sceptile hard.

Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
Heracross was originally added to this team as a wallbreaker that can support Mence. Stone Edge hits flying types such as Zapdos and Crobat, and fire types such as Entei and non-defensive Arcanine on the switch. Close Combat hits almost everything hard, mostly OHKOing Cobalion and Empoleon. Megahorn hits 2HKOs Cresselia, in back Cress needs +2 to OHKO Cross. Knock Off removes foe's item, scaring away eviolite mons such as Porygon2.

- This thing was the number one threat to this team. I can phaze with M-Aggron or 2HKO it with Cross' Megahorn, But if this thing has Sub and CM, this thing is ready to 6-0.

- Ah, Suicune. I can pressure it down with Empoleon's Grass Knot, but if it has CM, (CroCune, SubCM) i can't damage it using Grass Knot. Sure, i can phaze it, but M-Aggron doesn't like to be burned.

- Defensive sets always trouble me up. It can burn Aggron, Cross and Mence, OHKO Rotom-C and hurt Florges. Empoleon's Hydro Pump is my only hope, but if it has already fainted than gg.

Importable

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail
- Dragon Dance

Empoleon @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Hydro Pump
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam

Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Trick

Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast

Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Knock Off

Thanks for reading this RMT! Sorry if there are mistakes because this was my first one.

 

[Amaroq]

Dragon Dance Salamence is a really solid sweeper and seeing people use it always makes me happy. That said, I think there are some changes you could make to significantly improve the team. The first thing I noticed, even before looking at the rest of the team, is that Salamence's set is... suboptimal at best. You really want to be running Jolly over Adamant and Outrage over Dragon Claw because the difference in speed and power is significant. Your team is slow as it is, and deliberately crippling Salamence's ability to check Pokemon between the base 86 and base 100 speed tier just compounds that problem.

As you can see, the damage increase is significant. In general, setup sweepers that use 80 Base Power moves as their primary STAB do so because either they have no better choice (Gyarados, Feraligatr, etc.) or because they expect to consistently accrue multiple boosts. While Salamence can gain multiple Attack boosts through Moxie, it needs enough power to get the KO that starts the snowball in the first place, especially when this team doesn't provide significant hazard support or chip damage to leave things weak enough that Salamence can grab an easy Moxie boost.

Your Florges set is also suboptimal. In the current meta, Florges has more than enough Special Defense to do its job and needs to invest in physical bulk to check the physical attacks its typing allows it to match up well against. I would suggest running a spread of 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD with a Calm nature. This will allow Florges to continue taking on special threats, while also enabling it to take on threatening Fighting-types that its current spread loses to (your only other Fighting resists are both relatively frail offensive Pokemon, one of which is your win condition and the other of which is your biggest immediate offensive threat).

Next, I think your threatlist significantly undervalues certain threats and overvalues others. Just by going through the Viability Rankings, I can tell that this team has severe problems with a lot of the A+ Rank threats. First, nothing on your team can comfortably switch into Entei. Entei can 2HKO anything on your team with Sacred Fire after Stealth Rock. The closest thing you have to a reliable Fire resist is your win condition, which is far from acceptable when three members of your team are weak to Fire-type attacks and your current Salamence set has a 50/50 chance to beat Entei even if it can switch in without being burned or hit with Stone Edge on the switch. Entei can easily come in on Florges or a double switch and spam Sacred Fire to cripple your team.

Moving on down the rankings, Rain Dance Mega Swampert also threatens this team significantly. It can set up Rain Dance for free on several members of the team and then proceed to 2HKO every member of your team except for Mega Aggron, which can't do much besides phaze it. Empoleon is your best check, but it still loses to a combination of Rain-boosted Waterfall and Earthquake unless it comes in on the Rain Dance, in which case it telegraphs its item and moveset to the opponent. Even Rotom-C is a shaky check because Mega Swampert has a chance to OHKO it after Stealth Rock with Ice Punch and its likely to take chip damage throughout the match unless you play extremely conservatively with it or can get off free Defogs.

After that, we have Cobalion. This team isn't especially fond of dealing with the pivot set, but Swords Dance + 3 attacks is the real threat. With Shuca Berry, it can set up on several members of your team and proceed to sweep. Since Empoleon and Rotom-C don't OHKO it after Stealth Rock, at minimum Cobalion breaks holes in this team, and at worst it cleanly 6-0's. With a bit of chip damage and some luck with rolls that are highly in Cobalion's favor to begin with, SD Cobalion is practically an auto-win against this team if played correctly.

This team also has a problem with Alakazam. The standard Life Orb 4 Attacks can cleanly 2HKO everything on the team after Stealth Rock and outspeeds everything except Rotom-C, which can't switch in and is forced to revenge kill. Alakazam has trouble switching in and has to come on on a double switch or a revenge kill, but it can wreak havoc as soon as it gets in.

Finally, Mamoswine is also a bit of a problem since this team has trouble switching in and Knock Off variants beat Empoleon handily. Fortunately, there are some solutions. The first thing I would recommend is to replace Mega Aggron with defensive Swampert. This gives you an Entei check, a Cobalion check, and a Mamoswine check, as well as helping to patch up your matchup vs. Mega Swampert and Alakazam. This change retains your physical wall, maintains defensive synergy with Florges, and prevents you from having to fit Stealth Rock on something else. Swampert also has the benefit of taking care of your defensive Arcanine problem. Now, Florges + Swampert + bulky Steel-type is a common and effective formula for balance teams such as this. While Empoleon qualifies, I think you could improve your matchups significantly by replacing it with another Steel-type. There are two routes that I would recommend you consider: you can either focus on hazard stacking/control to wear down Salamence checks/counters, or you can be more offensive and try to break through the opposing team. If you want to focus on hazards, Specially Defensive Forretress is worth considering over Empoleon. This gives you hazard control and improves your Alakazam matchup. Alternatively, you could go a more aggressive route and use Doublade instead. This will give you another way to handle Pokemon like Cresselia, Chandelure, and Alakazam, all of whom are dangerous to this team or an impediment to Salamence. Feel free to use Shadow Claw on Doublade somewhere to beat Cresselia more easily. Forretress gives this team a better Mamoswine matchup than Doublade, but Doublade gives priority (since this team has nothing even resembling speed control otherwise) and helps against Cresselia.

Sets

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Atk / 32 Def
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat / Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Volt Switch
- Spikes / Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin

Summary:
Threats:

• Entei
• Cobalion
• Mega Swampert
• Alakazam
• Cresselia
• Suicune
• Arcanine

Fixes:

• Swampert over Mega Aggron
• SpD Forretress or Doublade over Empoleon

Smaller Changes:

• Florges to 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD with a Calm nature
• Salamence to Jolly with Outrage over Dragon Claw

Calcs removed at Arifeen's request since they clutter up the rate a bit (my bad habit of overexplaining strikes again). Anyone interested can either PM me here or on PS! or just run them themselves.

 

[Galaxium]

Thanks for the rate! I appreciate it.

But one question if Swampert replaces Aggron, i have no mega slot. Does my team has no mega then?

But still, thanks!

 

[toshimelonhead]

Thanks for the rate! I appreciate it.

But one question if Swampert replaces Aggron, i have no mega slot. Does my team has no mega then?

But still, thanks!

No you can use Mega Swampert.