Mega Diancie's movepool may be somewhat limited, but when backed by high base Speed and attacking stats, it is able to propel Mega Diancie to the forefront of the Doubles metagame. Mega Diancie achieves solid mixed attacking coverage between two strong STAB attacks, with Earth Power filling in many of the few holes that are left. Using that coverage, Mega Diancie can take out many relevant threats such as Hydreigon, Heatran, Keldeo, and Mega Charizard Y. Perhaps Mega Diancie's greatest asset is found in its exclusive primary STAB move, Diamond Storm, which has everything a Doubles Pokemon could want: high Base Power, high accuracy, and a helpful secondary effect that gives some protection against physical attackers. Mega Diancie also has a superb ability in Magic Bounce, shielding it from moves that would otherwise severely hinder it such as Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp.
Unfortunately, a low HP stat further offset by uninvested defenses and weaknesses to decently common types in Water and Ground leaves Mega Diancie somewhat frail. More specifically, a weakness to the omnipresent Landorus-T's Earthquake makes it difficult for Mega Diancie to perform as well as it could otherwise. Having a low base Speed prior to Mega Evolving also holds it back, forcing it to rely on Protect to Mega Evolve safely.
On the other hand, this low base Speed lets Diancie possess a little bit of flexibility in using its base forme to operate as a Trick Room setter with far more bulk than its Mega counterpart. Utilizing both Clear Body and a powerful Diamond Storm lets this set thrive in sweeping unprepared teams. However, Trick Room Diancie is hindered by the same critical typing weaknesses, as well as being countered by common Trick Room checks Amoonguss and Aegislash.
[SET]
name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Diamond Storm
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Trick Room
move 4: Protect
item: Stone Plate / Life Orb
ability: Clear Body
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Diamond Storm is Diancie's main STAB move, dealing powerful spread damage while having a chance to boost Diancie's Defense. This Rock-type coverage, when combined with Fairy-type coverage in the form of Moonblast, which covers Fighting-types, leaves Diancie only walled by opposing Steel-types. Trick Room is a potent speed control move that gives Diancie's team the upper hand speed-wise for four more turns, allowing Diancie and its teammates room to sweep. Protect is useful for avoiding opposing damage and maneuvering for a better position with Diancie's partner.
Set Details
========
Stone Plate and 252 EVs in Attack bring Trick Room Diancie's Diamond Storm damage on par with Mega Diancie's, notably allowing it to 2HKO most neutral targets. Maximum HP EVs are used to compensate for Diancie's low base HP stat and to give it a respectable amount of bulk. While Stone Plate is preferred to avoid recoil damage, Life Orb can be used to give Diancie more damage output, notably having a better roll to KO defensive Thundurus while also boosting Moonblast enough to KO Keldeo with 108 Special Attack EVs—without Life Orb, however, there aren't any notable Special Attack benchmarks, and hence the standard spread has no Special Attack investment. If using Life Orb, a spread of 152 HP / 248 Atk / 108 SpA should be used, as this minimizes Life Orb recoil and hits the aforementioned Special Attack benchmark.
Usage Tips
========
The only foes that resist Diancie's dual coverage are Steel-types, so get rid of these immediately. More often than not, eliminating Aegislash or Jirachi early on grants Diancie a paved road to finish the game, so Diancie often works best mid- or late-game when these threats are eliminated.
Defensively, Diancie brings many things to the table that no other setter can due to its unique Rock / Fairy typing. Take advantage of these unique good matchups—against Talonflame, Kangaskhan, Thundurus, and Hydreigon—for an opportunity to set up Trick Room, usually with Fake Out or redirection support. On the other hand, Diancie should do its best to avoid its difficult matchups, such as against opposing Steel-types, rain sweepers and bulky Water-types, and Amoonguss.
Defensive boosts are also extremely useful: these can be used to easily tank and prevent a late-game Earthquake sweep after Trick Room goes down. Diancie's decent bulk also allows it to tank opposing Earth Power from Heatran, Kyurem-B, or Mega Diancie, as well as Solar Beam from Mega Charizard Y.
Diancie possesses the option to simply use Diamond Storm if you foresee a foe using using Taunt (typically Thundurus, which is weak to Diamond Storm), potentially picking up KOs or dealing large amounts of damage.
Team Options
========
Diancie's team members should generally be geared towards dealing with its difficult matchups. Especially notable are attackers that can deal with Steel-types such as Volcanion, Scrafty, Heatran, Mega Camerupt, and Hoopa-U and Ground-immune Pokemon such as Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Latios, and Hydreigon. In addition, checks to opposing Water-types such as Dragon-types, Grass-types (Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur), and Mega Charizard Y, as well as Fairy checks in the form of Aegislash, Heatran, and Bronzong, are needed.
Fake Out and redirection are two forms of support Diancie greatly appreciates for setting Trick Room; Scrafty and Mega Kangaskhan provide Fake Out, whereas Amoonguss and Jirachi supply Diancie with redirection. Scrafty and Amoonguss are both very good for compensating for Diancie's weaknesses to Steel-types and Water-types, respectively.
Other Options sentence:
Trick Room Diancie can utilize Weakness Policy to gain boosts after taking a super effective hit, but the only super effective hits that won't OHKO Diancie are Earth Power and Earthquake, and Weakness Policy significantly reduces Diancie's damage output, preventing several 2HKOs.
Unfortunately, a low HP stat further offset by uninvested defenses and weaknesses to decently common types in Water and Ground leaves Mega Diancie somewhat frail. More specifically, a weakness to the omnipresent Landorus-T's Earthquake makes it difficult for Mega Diancie to perform as well as it could otherwise. Having a low base Speed prior to Mega Evolving also holds it back, forcing it to rely on Protect to Mega Evolve safely.
On the other hand, this low base Speed lets Diancie possess a little bit of flexibility in using its base forme to operate as a Trick Room setter with far more bulk than its Mega counterpart. Utilizing both Clear Body and a powerful Diamond Storm lets this set thrive in sweeping unprepared teams. However, Trick Room Diancie is hindered by the same critical typing weaknesses, as well as being countered by common Trick Room checks Amoonguss and Aegislash.
[SET]
name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Diamond Storm
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Trick Room
move 4: Protect
item: Stone Plate / Life Orb
ability: Clear Body
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Diamond Storm is Diancie's main STAB move, dealing powerful spread damage while having a chance to boost Diancie's Defense. This Rock-type coverage, when combined with Fairy-type coverage in the form of Moonblast, which covers Fighting-types, leaves Diancie only walled by opposing Steel-types. Trick Room is a potent speed control move that gives Diancie's team the upper hand speed-wise for four more turns, allowing Diancie and its teammates room to sweep. Protect is useful for avoiding opposing damage and maneuvering for a better position with Diancie's partner.
Set Details
========
Stone Plate and 252 EVs in Attack bring Trick Room Diancie's Diamond Storm damage on par with Mega Diancie's, notably allowing it to 2HKO most neutral targets. Maximum HP EVs are used to compensate for Diancie's low base HP stat and to give it a respectable amount of bulk. While Stone Plate is preferred to avoid recoil damage, Life Orb can be used to give Diancie more damage output, notably having a better roll to KO defensive Thundurus while also boosting Moonblast enough to KO Keldeo with 108 Special Attack EVs—without Life Orb, however, there aren't any notable Special Attack benchmarks, and hence the standard spread has no Special Attack investment. If using Life Orb, a spread of 152 HP / 248 Atk / 108 SpA should be used, as this minimizes Life Orb recoil and hits the aforementioned Special Attack benchmark.
Usage Tips
========
The only foes that resist Diancie's dual coverage are Steel-types, so get rid of these immediately. More often than not, eliminating Aegislash or Jirachi early on grants Diancie a paved road to finish the game, so Diancie often works best mid- or late-game when these threats are eliminated.
Defensively, Diancie brings many things to the table that no other setter can due to its unique Rock / Fairy typing. Take advantage of these unique good matchups—against Talonflame, Kangaskhan, Thundurus, and Hydreigon—for an opportunity to set up Trick Room, usually with Fake Out or redirection support. On the other hand, Diancie should do its best to avoid its difficult matchups, such as against opposing Steel-types, rain sweepers and bulky Water-types, and Amoonguss.
Defensive boosts are also extremely useful: these can be used to easily tank and prevent a late-game Earthquake sweep after Trick Room goes down. Diancie's decent bulk also allows it to tank opposing Earth Power from Heatran, Kyurem-B, or Mega Diancie, as well as Solar Beam from Mega Charizard Y.
Diancie possesses the option to simply use Diamond Storm if you foresee a foe using using Taunt (typically Thundurus, which is weak to Diamond Storm), potentially picking up KOs or dealing large amounts of damage.
Team Options
========
Diancie's team members should generally be geared towards dealing with its difficult matchups. Especially notable are attackers that can deal with Steel-types such as Volcanion, Scrafty, Heatran, Mega Camerupt, and Hoopa-U and Ground-immune Pokemon such as Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Latios, and Hydreigon. In addition, checks to opposing Water-types such as Dragon-types, Grass-types (Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur), and Mega Charizard Y, as well as Fairy checks in the form of Aegislash, Heatran, and Bronzong, are needed.
Fake Out and redirection are two forms of support Diancie greatly appreciates for setting Trick Room; Scrafty and Mega Kangaskhan provide Fake Out, whereas Amoonguss and Jirachi supply Diancie with redirection. Scrafty and Amoonguss are both very good for compensating for Diancie's weaknesses to Steel-types and Water-types, respectively.
Other Options sentence:
Trick Room Diancie can utilize Weakness Policy to gain boosts after taking a super effective hit, but the only super effective hits that won't OHKO Diancie are Earth Power and Earthquake, and Weakness Policy significantly reduces Diancie's damage output, preventing several 2HKOs.
Last edited:
