ORAS OU Apotheosis

[PR0F3550R_B055]

Hey everyone,

I've just returned to the world of Pokemon after a 1 year break, and I think I'm familiarized with the new meta. Ever since it was first released in XY, I've always wanted to build a team around Mega Ampharos. I tried it before I left, and let's just say that it wasn't pretty, haha. I'm currently 10-0 with the team, it's done a LOT better than I expected that it would. So without further ado, I present Apotheosis!

GLORIOUS (Ampharos-Mega) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Agility
Ampharos is undoubtedly the star of this show. I mean, look at that hair! Too glorious.
I chose it because I've never liked to go with the "standard" pokemon all the time. Mega-Ampharos is a severely underrated mega, so I'm gonna help it out a bit! Let's get into the moveset. Dragon Pulse and T-bolt are powerful STABS, and Focus Miss for added coverage, pretty standard. You might be wondering why I'm running 252 speed EVs on this 45 base speed pokemon, and it's because of agility. After one agility (which is very easy to get off, considering it's great 90/105/110 bulk), you'll hit 378 speed, enough to outspeed the entire OU metagame, except for Mega loppuny, sceptile, and scarfers. You can go Timid nature if you're concerned, but this hasn't been an issue for me. Took HeiDoe's suggestion and switched to Timid so it can outspeed fully invested base 135 speed pokemon.

Serperior @ Meadow Plate Leftovers Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ground] [Fire]
Next up is Contrary Serperior. I've wanted to use this mean, green snake for YEARS, ever since I heard that Contrary will be Serperiors unreleased ability. It has an outstanding 113 base speed, making it faster than most of the metagame and allowing it to get off Leaf Storms easier, to boost that mediocre Special Attack to sky high levels. Dragon Pulse because dragon moves just have so much coverage, Giga Drain for some form of recovery, and HP Ground for the annoying Steel types that would otherwise wall it completely.

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA 4 Def / 252 Spe
Hasty Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Energy Ball Zen Headbutt
Victini kind of came out of nowhere. It works pretty well with Mega Ampharos and Serperior in terms of type coverage, and I wanted a scarfer. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting Victini to shine, but WOAH - it sure does! U-turn is great for scouting, V-create deals massive damage (180 damage + STAB, coming off of 100 base attack) and is great for... well, killing things. Especially when combined with 328 speed + a scarf. Bolt Strike is another super powerful move, added for coverage. Energy Ball is very unexpected and also works very well, along with providing a bit more coverage. Oh yeah, and you don't need to worry about missing thanks to Victory Star.

Latios (M) Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire] Healing Wish
I was still worried about the ground weakness, and Latios Latias seemed like a good fit. Defog for hazard removal, Draco and Psyshock for STABs, and HP Fire for some more coverage Healing Wish for some recovery to keep the team going. Not much to say here, pretty standard.

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Stone Edge Ice Shard
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Knock Off Superpower
I needed a Stealth Rock user, and Lando-T is a good one. Standard set, SE for STAB, EQ for coverage, Knock Off just to annoy them (and for, y'know, more coverage!) Swapped Lando-T for Mamoswine. Fills a very similar role, Stealth Rock + 3 attacks. The team had a big Ice weakness and 0 Ice moves, Mamoswine solves both these problems.

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 16 92 HP / 252 Atk / 240 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
Ahh, Azumarill. What's not to love? I put 240 speed to outspeed max invested base 40's (might just end up moving it all into HP, are base 40 OU pokemon a thing?). Belly Drum / Sitrus Berry combo brings this beast to +6 Attack, Play Rough for a Fairy STAB, Knock Off for coverage and more annoyance, and Aqua Jet for STAB + Priority goodness. Oh, and did I mention it has Huge Pow

So, there you have it, APOTHEOSIS. I'm (surprisingly) 10-0 with it, I'm going to continue on and see how it holds up at higher ranks. Feel free to leave suggestions, I'm all ears eyes. Thanks for reading!

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-234974710
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-234991796
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-236706399
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-236741371

 

[Snowy]

Hey man, interesting team you have there which uses some pretty underrated and cool Pokemon! There are a few changes I would like to recommend, but having a personal policy of not liking to switch out Pokemon for others unless completely necessary, as I believe that takes away from the creators idea, I wont be changing any of the existing Pokemon on your team. With this being said, let get into it!

Firstly, I believe you should consider the use of a Timid nature > Modest on Mega Ampharos. Although you miss out on a bit more power your able to out speed a great speed tier in 135, which means you can out speed threats at plus two like Mega Loppuny, Weavile, +1 Adamant Mega Gyarados, +1 Adamant Dragonite, +1 Jolly Mega Tyranitar, +1 Mega Altaria and so forth (there are other things like Tornadus-T and Mega Manectric, but there not that threatening to Mega Ampharos). All these threats cant be out sped and handled if you don't run Timid on Ampharos, however in saying this, it is only a minor detail and your remaining members of your team might be able to eliminate these threats before hand, so you don't have to worry about cleaning them late game. I also wanted to mention the reason of why I included Pokemon at plus one, as a lot of the Pokemon I included you can live hits from and set up to plus two and can kill (some need weakening first) or your opponent might try to set up on you when your at plus two knowing they can take a hit and sweep your team thinking they can out speed you next turn.

Secondly, your team has no real stall breakers, and is why I think you should run Taunt > Giga Drain on Serperior. You already have a powerful grass stab and the extra recover from Giga Drain isn't really need for Serperior, as it works as more of a late game cleaner or revenge killer more than anything on your team. Taunt allows you to beat Chansey and other annoying and fat passive Pokemon that would otherwise wall you and potentially cripple you with status. If you do decide to take this option you might also want to change Leftovers > Miracle Seed, as this will give you the Consistent recovery that you lose without Giga Drain and also the power difference isn't that huge.

Thirdly, you should use Trick > Energy ball on Victini. You already have a way of dealing with Bulky waters and you have U-turn to safely get them in as well. Through running trick you can easily cripple fat walls that would usually stop Victini and just cause problems for your team to break in general. It also allows you to run a better and more supportive nature in Jolly > Hasty, which doesn't cut you defenses.

Finally, I recommend changing you EV's on Landorus-T to a more optimal one of 72 Hp / 252+ Atk / 184 Spe. This allows you to hit the hardest you possibly can (Without a Choice Band at least) against a lot of fat walls like Ferrothorn and Hippo that like to switch in (Ferrothorn not as much) and do some respectable damage against them, whilst also allowing you to out speed dangerous threats like Bisharp, Breloom and anything below Jolly base 70.

Hope you enjoyed my rate and were able to get some usable and insightful things out of it. Also wish you the best in your future using this team and I hope if you do decide to add any of these adjustments that your teams capabilities lift more than what they already are.

 

[Zerius]

snip

The part about Victiny is something you should really do! You can easily switch to Serperior or Azumarill, so energy ball isn't really that necessary. Trick is really fun to work with, crippling allot of Pokémon.

Great team nonetheless!

 

[Afro14ajaja]

Hey dude. I really appreciate that you are using some underrated mons. I have a few suggestions and hopefully they'll prove to be helpful.

Your azumarill ev spread needs to be changed in my opinion. With the current spread, you reach an odd number in your hp, which does not guarantee the activation of your sitrus berry after a belly drum. Here's the set I recommend.

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off

Yes, it's directly out of the smogon website. This gives you an even number in your hp guaranteeing the activation of your sitrus berry once you belly drum. Also, the speed is enough to outspeed uninvested base 70 pokemon.

Unfortunately, I might have to suggest a change or two in your pokemon, unlike HeiDoe, although I completely agree with what he is saying. The reason for this is that you have four pokemon that are weak to ice type moves, out of which one is your star, Ampharos. I agree that you also have two pokemon that resist ice but realistically you probably don't want Azumarill to switch into that many attacks. So that leaves Victini. Now if your opponent has a weavile, Victini would also dislike switching in. Bisharp causes similar problem as your only dark type resist is azumarill. Also, all the other ice type users such as raikou, thundurus, kyurem-b and mega manectric will have unresisted coverage against you. To remedy this to a certain extent, you could use a sub calm mind keldeo, which can act as a make shift mixed attacker with secret sword, over Azumarill. Or you can use an assault vest conkeldurr as that still retains your priority and gives you a status absorber. Here are the sets.

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Secret Sword

OR
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- Poison Jab

Also, as you are only using latios as a defogger, you could use latias. It's slightly bulkier, so it can switch into the above mentioned pokemon better, ahs access to defog, same stab moves and also has healing wish. Healing Wish really helps with on most of your pokemon and it gives something like serperior or ampharos a second chance to wreak havoc.

Since you are oly using hidden power ground to hit steel types then you might as well use hidden power fire as along with your other two moves, if I remember correctly, it rpovides better coverage.

Hope I could help and good luck!

 

[PR0F3550R_B055]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I edited the original post with some of them. I'm not a big fan of trick, so I switched Energy Ball to Zen Headbutt, so I can use Jolly instead of hasty.
And thanks to Afro14ajaja for pointing out the major ice weakness, I'd rather not switch out any of the pokemon, but it might be necessary. I'll keep playing with the team and see what troubles I run into.
I also don't have a single ice move on the team... haha.
Might switch out Lando for another stealth rock user, one that resists ice. Was thinking of Heatran, but he'll bring another ground weakness.

 

[Afro14ajaja]

G

Thanks for all the suggestions, I edited the original post with some of them. I'm not a big fan of trick, so I switched Energy Ball to Zen Headbutt, so I can use Jolly instead of hasty.
And thanks to Afro14ajaja for pointing out the major ice weakness, I'd rather not switch out any of the pokemon, but it might be necessary. I'll keep playing with the team and see what troubles I run into.
I also don't have a single ice move on the team... haha.
Might switch out Lando for another stealth rock user, one that resists ice. Was thinking of Heatran, but he'll bring another ground weakness.

Glad I could help. Haha ice just doesn't seem like your thing :P You could potentially replace zen headbutt with glaciate on victini. It also reduces your opponents speed, which might come in handy. Heatran with air balloon could work. However, the uncommon Bronzong works as well as it has levitate and is resistant to ice. Then again, it adds to your bisharp weakness.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power Ice/ Rock Slide/ Zen Headbutt/ Toxic

This is going to sound slightly weird but the set I'm going to post might be quite fun to play around with.

Bronzong @ Mental Herb/Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Explosion/ Hidden Power Ice/ Rock Slide/ Zen Headbutt/ Toxic

This way you can shift all of Azumarill's speed evs to some other stat like hp. Also, if you are having trouble setting up with ampharos, you could just use this to punch holes. This is just a crazy suggestion though :P

If don't want Bronzong, you can go for Skarmory. Although it takes neautral damage from ice type attacks.

 

[PR0F3550R_B055]

G

Glad I could help. Haha ice just doesn't seem like your thing :P You could potentially replace zen headbutt with glaciate on victini. It also reduces your opponents speed, which might come in handy. Heatran with air balloon could work. However, the uncommon Bronzong works as well as it has levitate and is resistant to ice. Then again, it adds to your bisharp weakness.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power Ice/ Rock Slide/ Zen Headbutt/ Toxic

This is going to sound slightly weird but the set I'm going to post might be quite fun to play around with.

Bronzong @ Mental Herb/Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Explosion/ Hidden Power Ice/ Rock Slide/ Zen Headbutt/ Toxic

This way you can shift all of Azumarill's speed evs to some other stat like hp. Also, if you are having trouble setting up with ampharos, you could just use this to punch holes. This is just a crazy suggestion though :P

If don't want Bronzong, you can go for Skarmory. Although it takes neautral damage from ice type attacks.

I saw that Bronzong resists both Ice and Ground, and I'm all for using uncommon pokemon, but... bleh. Don't think it'll do very well. I just swapped out Lando for Mamoswine, which resists Ice (thick fat hehehe) and is neutral to ground, and brings the much needed ice coverage to the team.

 

[Afro14ajaja]

I saw that Bronzong resists both Ice and Ground, and I'm all for using uncommon pokemon, but... bleh. Don't think it'll do very well. I just swapped out Lando for Mamoswine, which resists Ice (thick fat hehehe) and is neutral to ground, and brings the much needed ice coverage to the team.

Fair enough. That's actually a really good change. You might want to replace Superpower with ice shard or Icicle Crash :P

 

[PR0F3550R_B055]

Fair enough. That's actually a really good change. You might want to replace Superpower with ice shard or Icicle Crash :P

Oops. I forgot to change Stone Edge to Ice Shard in the OP. Will edit that now.