Illusions of Grandeur

[zf]

Illusions of Grandeur​

Hey guys, it's ZoroarkForever here with my first and final RMT of 5th gen. With the end of 5th gen quickly approaching, everyone seems to be RMTing their favorite and best teams, so I figured I'd release one of my favorites as well. My team, Illusions of Grandeur, in simplest terms, is a hyper-offensive team that utilizes fast hazards from Deoxys-S and powerful sweepers in Darkrai, Groudon, and Arceus-Ghost to end the game as quickly as possible, preferably in my favor. Now onto the actual team.

Team at a Glance:

Teambuilding Process:

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I started with Deoxys-S because it is the best suicide lead imo, almost always guaranteeing 2 layers of hazards.

Next, I added Rock Polish Groudon because it's a great cleaner with good bulk and provides nice insurance vs. teams looking to abuse rain or sand.

I added Darkrai because it has pretty good offensive synergy with Groudon. They can each remove some of each others counters, Groudon removing steels and Darkrai removing Giratina, Lugia, and the Lati@s.

So Latios also has pretty good offensive synergy with RP Groudon, again removing it's counters so it can sweep late game. Latios wallbreaks as well and provides a nice check to Kyogre, which is useful for any team.

Ghostceus was the 2nd to last member added to the Illusions of Grandeur, mainly because I needed a spinblocker and I didn't want to use Giratina-O, so Ghostceus was pretty much mandatory.

To complete my team, I needed a scarfer so I wasn't completely shit on by setup sweepers. In the words of Hack, "This is hyper-offense. I need a scarfer. That scarfer must resist ESpeed." 3 choices came to mind for an ESpeed resistant scarfer: Terrakion, Genesect, and Dialga. Genesect was simply too frail for my tastes and unable to KO certain threats I needed gone. Terrakion really only dealt with EKiller, Darkrai, and Ho-Oh and, again, was quite frail. Therefore, I chose Dialga.

Deoxys-S @ Focus Sash
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
-Fire Punch
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
Deoxys-S is a pretty straight forward pokemon. Against most teams, Deoxys-S can get down rocks and 1 layer of spikes, which are crucial for other pokemon to get OHKOes instead of 2HKOes and wear down teams that are constantly switching to deal with my team. Taunt stops Deoxys from being setup fodder, other hazard setters, and support pokemon. Fire Punch with max attack investment lets Deoxys OHKO Genesect 87.5% of the time. Obviously, there are some common anti-leads that can combat Deoxys, but other team members can deal with them quite easily.

Groudon @ Earth Plate
Trait: Drought
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Fire Punch
-Rock Polish
Groudon is a great late game sweeper once its counters are removed. Those of you reading are probably wondering why I run Earth Plate over Life Orb. Well, to put things simply, Groudon doesn't need the extra power Life Orb provides as it nets no extra notable KOes and gives Groudon much more longevity. Earthquake hits quite hard coming off a base 150 fully invested attack stat, KOing the majority of the metagame after SR+Spikes. Stone Edge hits Flying types and Levitators relatively hard that Earthquake can't hit. Now again, I have a non-standard move in Fire Punch over Dragon Claw because this team has more problems with Forretress and Ferrothorn then the Lati@s and Giratina. Fire Punch allows me to remove them in one hit and therefore allow Groudon to complete its sweep or let Ghostceus/Darkrai sweep later. The 176 speed EVs are there to outspeed base 108 speed and lower scarfers at +2. Groudon is also 1 of the 3 EKiller resistant pokemon on this team, as I wanted to make a hyper-offensive team that had multiple checks to EKiller. Groudon is the centerpiece of this team and has swept more teams then I can count.

Latios @ Soul Dew
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
Timid Nature
-Psyshock
-Dragon Pulse
-Draco Meteor
-Hidden Power [Fire]
Latios is the wallbreaker of this team. Psyshock is used over other options due to the fact that Chansey and Blissey are real pains for this team, and Psyshock 2HKOes the blobs. Draco Meteor is a powerful STAB that OHKOes Groudon and Giratina-A, allowing Groudon to sweep later. Dragon Pulse is a spammable STAB move with no drawbacks, netting KOes on stuff like Palkia without using Draco Meteor and giving setup opportunities to opponents. HP Fire is there to remove Ferro and Forre, which this team has problems with. It also helps on the ladder where people like to switch their Genesect into Latios for some reason. Honestly, Latios is the pokemon I'm most flexible about, and even though its served me well, I think there are changes that could make it better (moveset, EV spread because of 30 Spd IVs, etc.).

Arceus @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
-Shadow Claw
-Brick Break
-Shadow Force
-Swords Dance
Arceus-Ghost is the much needed spinblocker for my team. I originally had an offensive CM set here, but I surprisingly found it underwhelming and switched it out for a SD set, which has much better offensive synergy with Groudon (instead of Darkrai). SD Ghostceus is a great sweeper in its own right and tends to lure out Ho-Oh. Ghostceus also is one of this teams checks to EKiller, being immune to ExtremeSpeed and surviving Shadow Claw at +2 allows it to SD itself and KO back with Brick Break. Overall, Ghostceus is a great backup sweeper and breaker for Groudon, spinblocks, and checks EKiller, all which are extremely important for this team.

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Trait: Bad Dreams
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
-Dark Pulse
-Substitute
-Nasty Plot
-Dark Void
SubPlot Darkrai is its best set imo. Dark Void grants Darkrai many setup opportunities while removing its counters that switch in. Again, Darkrai has good offensive synergy with Groudon, being able to remove Lugia, Giratina, the Lati@s, Arceus formes, etc. Darkrai also provides one of the only Arceus-Ghost counters, able to take on most of Ghostceus' sets. Substitute provides a nice buffer vs common switch-ins to Darkrai and makes it a real pain to take on. Dark Pulse is my attacking move of choice, giving Darkrai the coverage I need it to have vs. psychics and ghosts. The 4 extra EVs go into Def so Darkrai maintains an HP that is odd for Substitute and hazards, while still giving Genesect the SAtk boost when it switches in.

Dialga @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Dragon Pulse
-Aura Sphere
-Sleep Talk
Every team needs a scarfer and Dialga is perfect for this team. Dialga resists Shadow Sneak, ExtremeSpeed, and Stealth Rock, allowing Dialga to last the majority of the match and take on Giratina-O and EKiller. Draco Meteor is a powerful STAB move useful for KOing relatively healthy target. Dragon Pulse is a late game spammable STAB move useful for KOing weakened, weak targets. Aura Sphere rounds out the sets coverage, hitting steels for SE damage, and more importantly EK Arceus. Sleep Talk allows Dialga to act as this team's sleep absorber and deal with Darkrai, who is a decent threat to this team. Dialga is my main switch in to lead Giratina-O, as well as my lead vs. sun offense teams using Cloyster.

Replays:
Vs. Hack: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54255253
Vs. Dice: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54282833
Vs. hyw: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54113523
Vs. moonbase: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-53920789
Vs. moonbase (again): http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54654110
Vs. Sweep: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54650007
Vs. rileydelete: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54481407
Vs. limujx: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54891097

Closing Remarks:
With the Illusions of Grandeur, I tried to create a resilient hyper-offense team that was not inherently weak to EKiller. It has been decently successful for me, with 5 current alts over 2100 ACRE (though the ladder isn't a good way to showcase a team's success) and 4 wins and no losses in small tournaments and URUC. Overall, I hope you enjoyed the Illusions of Grandeur and my take on HO in Ubers. Feel free to rate, hate, or steal (preferably rate though).

Importable:

Deoxys-Speed @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Fire Punch

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Brick Break
- Shadow Force

Groudon @ Earth Plate
Ability: Drought
EVs: 176 Spd / 252 Atk / 80 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Rock Polish

Dialga @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Aura Sphere
- Sleep Talk
- Dragon Pulse

Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Dragon Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Dark Void
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot

 

[steelskitty]

Very nice team, I have to say that I've built pretty similar teams in the past, but none of them really even came close to this in terms of strength. I don't have much to rate, but I will say that you're a bit scarfkia-weak. If your team is weakened a bit, it should plow through you somewhat easily. Because of this I might advise using an offensive Latias>your current Latios. This set seems to work pretty well on sun teams like this:

Aphrodite (Latias) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 180 Spd / 76 SDef
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost/Roar

Pretty straightforward set, really. Draco Meteor nukes Kyogre/The non-steel-type Metagame, Psyshock slaps Chansey, Blissey, and Arceus-Fighting in the face, Hidden Power Fire is for those annoying Ferrothorns and Forretresses lurking around. You don't get to use Roost all that much, which is why Roar could be cool so you aren't setup fodder after a Draco Meteor. Your choice. The EVs give you a really nice combination of bulk, speed, and power; 252 Satk hits as hard as possible, while you have 180 Speed to creep both non-scarf Palkia and Defensive Fightceus. The rest are transferred into bulk to let you absorb attacks like Spacial Rend and Water Spout easier.

Good luck!

 

[moonbase]

Hi (and i know who your really are now lel)

this team has some problems with rain stall, as shown in my replay (I misplayed hard with kyogre, and if I went for rest, I woulda won, and im not much of a stall player either lol) and gliscor in general. there isn't any easy way to resolve this, w/o changing a lot of things, but any competent player like you could resolve this ez by playing well

my only suggestion would be to replace either draco or pulse on latios, for grass knot (good v groudon), or thunder (avoid being shuffled by lugia)

i find it a bit strange that you have both shadow force and shadow claw on ghostceus. i may be wrong but the set works very well in practice rather than theory, so I applaud you for using it

excellent team, and liked.

 

[zf]

Very nice team, I have to say that I've built pretty similar teams in the past, but none of them really even came close to this in terms of strength. I don't have much to rate, but I will say that you're a bit scarfkia-weak. If your team is weakened a bit, it should plow through you somewhat easily. Because of this I might advise using an offensive Latias>your current Latios. This set seems to work pretty well on sun teams like this:

Aphrodite (Latias) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 180 Spd / 76 SDef
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost/Roar

Pretty straightforward set, really. Draco Meteor nukes Kyogre/The non-steel-type Metagame, Psyshock slaps Chansey, Blissey, and Arceus-Fighting in the face, Hidden Power Fire is for those annoying Ferrothorns and Forretresses lurking around. You don't get to use Roost all that much, which is why Roar could be cool so you aren't setup fodder after a Draco Meteor. Your choice. The EVs give you a really nice combination of bulk, speed, and power; 252 Satk hits as hard as possible, while you have 180 Speed to creep both non-scarf Palkia and Defensive Fightceus. The rest are transferred into bulk to let you absorb attacks like Spacial Rend and Water Spout easier.

Good luck!

Thanks for the rate, Steelskitty. I'll definitely test your Latias over Latios, as well as your Latias EV spread and Roar on Latios. You are right about Scarfed Palkia btw. I really have nothing for it besides weakening it over time or having Groudon setup in its face, which can backfire if I need Groudon lategame.

Hi (and i know who your really are now lel)

this team has some problems with rain stall, as shown in my replay (I misplayed hard with kyogre, and if I went for rest, I woulda won, and im not much of a stall player either lol) and gliscor in general. there isn't any easy way to resolve this, w/o changing a lot of things, but any competent player like you could resolve this ez by playing well

my only suggestion would be to replace either draco or pulse on latios, for grass knot (good v groudon), or thunder (avoid being shuffled by lugia)

i find it a bit strange that you have both shadow force and shadow claw on ghostceus. i may be wrong but the set works very well in practice rather than theory, so I applaud you for using it

excellent team, and liked.

Thanks for the rate moonbase. I'm glad you liked the team. Rain stall teams using SDef Ogre along with Jirachi/Steelceus and Grassceus/Gliscor are pretty problematic, especially if they are able to A)get 2 or more layers of hazards up or B)spin away my hazards. I will definitely test Thunder over Dragon Pulse on Latios as it alleviates some of the issues I have with rain stall, as mentioned previously.

The reasoning for both Shadow Claw and Shadow Force on Ghostceus is Force nets KOes on a lot more targets than Claw (also, resisted Force does more than neutral Brick Break), as well as weakening opposing support Groudon so it cannot check my RP Groudon later. Shadow Force is really the reason to run SD Ghostceus over EKiller (other than spinblocking) and Shadow Claw compliments it quite well, dealing with sub users or when you just need to attack (gonna die from poison if you Force, etc.). Plus, ESpeed from SD Ghostceus is really weak and can't OHKO anything, so there's that too.

 

[Hack]

Hey there, nice team!

I did battle this team for URUC and we kinda had a HO vs HO match up. I think you remember that since you won. Anyway, this is solid always worthwhile standard Hyper Offense. A little E-killer weak, so I'd suggest Roar>Dragon Pulse on Latios. Bumping up the speed on Groudon to outspeed Excadrill could help a lot vs sand teams. Fire Blast>Aura Sphere is generally better on Dialga, since you hit E-killer harder with Draco Meteor anyway. There are minor stuff, though. The only real issue I see with the team is the use of Swords Dance Ghost Arceus. I know people around here think priority less SD Arceus-Ghost is to prefer over the weak Extremespeed/Shadow Claw/Brick Break set. But since you are using Ghostceus without priority I see no reason at all to not use the Calm Mind-set other than hitting Ho-oh harder. I'd either use the SD Extremespeed since priority is really good to have on HO, or the Calm Mind-set that can tank a lot of moves and act like a team player. Good luck!

 

[zf]

Hey there, nice team!

I did battle this team for URUC and we kinda had a HO vs HO match up. I think you remember that since you won. Anyway, this is solid always worthwhile standard Hyper Offense. A little E-killer weak, so I'd suggest Roar>Dragon Pulse on Latios. Bumping up the speed on Groudon to outspeed Excadrill could help a lot vs sand teams. Fire Blast>Aura Sphere is generally better on Dialga, since you hit E-killer harder with Draco Meteor anyway. There are minor stuff, though. The only real issue I see with the team is the use of Swords Dance Ghost Arceus. I know people around here think priority less SD Arceus-Ghost is to prefer over the weak Extremespeed/Shadow Claw/Brick Break set. But since you are using Ghostceus without priority I see no reason at all to not use the Calm Mind-set other than hitting Ho-oh harder. I'd either use the SD Extremespeed since priority is really good to have on HO, or the Calm Mind-set that can tank a lot of moves and act like a team player. Good luck!

Roar is definitely on my list of moves to test on Latios (that 4MSS...) and considering multiple people have suggested Roar over D-Pulse, I'll probably implement that change later. Fire Blast>Aura Sphere on Dialga sounds good for hitting Ferrothorn and friends. I'll definitely consider that change. The only reason I had Aura Sphere on Dialga in the first place because people on the ladder love using Recover EKiller for some reason and I needed to beat it.

As for Ghostceus, I originally had a CM set on this team and wasn't too impressed with it. I'll retest it though. I personally don't like ESpeed/Shadow Claw/BB/SD on Ghostceus, but again, I'll test it out and see if its better. Thanks for the rate Hack!

 

[sammao]

You have a great team right there. I suggest you can reduce the speed of Dialga so it outspeed up to Mewtwo (204 ev) and you can put the rest in hp. You can also try Life Orb over Earth Plate on Groudon and on top of that, you can use Sword Dance>Fire Punch and try lum berry with it. SD EQ still blast through Forretress and Ferrothorn just like Fire Punch will anyway. But these are all up to you and again this is a great HO team

 

[zf]

You have a great team right there. I suggest you can reduce the speed of Dialga so it outspeed up to Mewtwo (204 ev) and you can put the rest in hp. You can also try Life Orb over Earth Plate on Groudon and on top of that, you can use Sword Dance>Fire Punch and try lum berry with it. SD EQ still blast through Forretress and Ferrothorn just like Fire Punch will anyway. But these are all up to you and again this is a great HO team

Thanks for the rate sammao. I know standard Scarf Dialga runs 204 speed, but I enjoy being able tie with other max speed neutral natured base 90s as well as outspeeding standard Scarf Dialga (the lowest I will go is 208 spd evs). I really like Earth Plate on Groudon instead of Life Orb because LO gains no additional OHKOes with the particular moveset I'm using and no recoil is really nice. I'll definitely test Double Dance Groudon with Lum Berry though.