man, 6th gen is weird

[JeffreyLebowski]

Hey, Smogon. Its been a while. Aside from a brief delve in to last Gen's RU, I haven't really dipped my toe into pokemon for the past few years. You know how life goes. Anyways, point is, I'm starting over from scratch on this. I know prediction, but sometimes i forget that azumarill is immune to dragon, or that Ferro no longer resists Ghost. I digress: here we go.

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower
- Waterfall
- Play Rough

For the record, I've been saying that they needed a type to nerf dragon and make poison relevant since gen4, for the record, and when I saw the changes to Azumarill, I was really goddamned excited. Azumarill was good in Gen 4 and 5, but it always had to choose two of three coverage moves. now it doesn't need Double edge or Ice punch (I guess it really doesn't need Super power either, but its still really cool). This is the only Azumarill set I really feel like running. Go band or go home. Azumarill actually always had respectable bulk, and he's really good as an offensive pivot, especially when I bother to remember he resists fighting and dragon now.

Thundurus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Taunt

Thunderous is the pokemon I get the most utility out of. It slices, it dices, it prevents hazards from going down, it stops sweepers from setting up, it paralyzes those that have set up. It matches up favorably with every lead I have come up against (although it can't KO them, usually), and comes back to save my ass against everything with a set up move and an half decent speed score. Its also reasonably bulky, taking a hit (but never two), so it can paralyze or taunt something, or if I am caught off guard.

Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

As much as I wanted to love SubSD variants of Chomp, it never worked out as well for me as scarf did. I don't know if the times have brought a new chomp variant but I do know that scarfchomp is still first in my heart. I shouldn't to explain Garchomp. He's fast, bulky, packs a punch, and uses a scarf to outspeed most boosting threats. He's a reasonable check to Talonflame, as long as stone miss doesn't miss.

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 SDef / 252 Spd / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

Im going to be honest. I started playing XY so I could play with this guy. In one of its first issues, the Smog ran an article about where certain mons would be if alternate typing, and my imagination took off from there (although, to be honest, my imagination included Tail glow also, but Gen4 tailglow that wasn't patently ridiculous). Anyways, this guy is a plain old dragon dancer, although the metagame has shifted from what I consider normal, and this guy hasn't been measuring up to my wet dreams (and its been 6 years. I have plenty of expectations). I'm still learning what he can switch into, and what he can set up on, so it might have to do more with my inexperience in the meta than any real incompetence on Xzard's part.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 140 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk / 112 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

This is the exact same set I ran on Ferrothorn and Ferroseed last gen, because it gets work done. Hes a full stop to water types in general (and rain in specific), and a great pivot (because he resists everything). He can set up whenever, wherever, except when hes taunted, and when hes taunted, he can just gyroball, because anything that wants to taunt is usually fast and frail. And its funny, because espeons always stay in and calm mind and get wrecked. Does the usual Ferro set just not run any attacking moves?

Snorlax @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Thunder Punch
- Pursuit

Of all my pokemon, this might seem like the strangest. But this thing takes hits all day long. I needed something to switch into fire moves, Ice moves, and ghosts moves, and not be complete set up bait. People seem to forget Lax's movepool, or else underestimate his power. He can't really sweep, but that's not his job. He keeps special sweepers at bay, and takes the hits no one else can. Ice beams and flamethrowers bounce off of him (particularly pertinent for Garchomp and Ferro.) He takes thunderbolts with the best of them also. Thunder punch is filler, really, because once a gyarados gave me a hard time.

Mons that are a pain
Bisharp: This thing is a pain. I always forget knock off is a thing, and its usually a prediction contest with sucker punch (I can usually win those though)
Mega absol: I want to meet the guy who thought this was a good idea and slap him. This thing is mega powerful and really versatile, and bonkers powerful priority.

(I have no ideas how pictures work with this new host. Ill format this with pictures later)

 

[aVocado]

Pictures work the same way they did before. [img ]url [/img]or by clicking the icon above the space where you type.

From looking at your team, I can notice two very big threats that none of your team members can switch into: Aegislash and Clefable (CM Unaware). Aegislash can just spam Shadow Ball and shuffle your team around, and usually has Sacred Sword, to hit your Snorlax. Everything else is absolutely wrecked and 2HKO'd by Shadow Ball except maybe Ferro, which can't do anything back and dies relatively quickly with no Protect to go with Leech Seed.

Clefable on the other hand, can set up quite easily against 4 out of 6 members you have: Garchomp* (yes i'm aware of iron head), Thundurus, Azumarill, and Snorlax, and then proceed to Moonblast the hell out of your team. And it can have Flamethrower or Fire Blast for your Ferrothorn.

252 Atk Garchomp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 154-182 (39 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

And you also stated yourself the Bisharp weakness.

Fixing all of those requires some work.. first of all, while I'm a strong advocate of using Roost over a coverage move, in this case, I recommend Earthquake over Roost on ZardX. This will prevent Aegislash from stopping the sweep. I also recommend using Outrage over Dragon Claw and an Adamant nature over the Jolly. You don't lose anything besides being outsped by the rare jolly scarf excadrill and kyu-b.

With Adamant + Outrage, you have a 75% chance to OHKO 252 HP Tyranitar, 2HKO physically defensive Slowbro, and deal serious damage to Hippowdon an Mandibuzz, OHKOing them with some prior damage and SR in mandi's case.

Now, enough with the small nitpicks. To fix the big Aegislash weakness, I'm thinking of replacing Ferrothorn with Mandibuzz. I don't really know what Ferrothorn adds to your team besides Spikes, but I think that Mandibuzz will further help. Especially for removing hazards for Thundurus.

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- Taunt / Toxic

Mandibuzz is a complete stop to Aegislash. 100% counter. The only thing that Aegislash can hurt physically defensive Mandi with is Life Orb Flash Cannon or Head Smash, both of which are very, very rare if not non-existing.

It also stops Breloom and Smeargle's Spore and other Pokemon's Sleep Powder, so it's a cool addition. You mentioned how your Ferro hurts Espeon, well, Mandi happens to be able to do that as well.

You're still weak to Clefable though, and I don't really know how to fix that without messing with the team..