SM Ubers Masochism

[aurora]

Introduction
Reading about the potential of Dragonium Z Swords Dance Arceus-Dragon this generation piqued my interest, so I decided to build a team around it. After about six battles, I realised that I really wasn't impressed with it. At all. However, I resolved to press on and see where thirty ladder matches would take me. I went 23-7 (this should have been AT LEAST 27-3), which was a lot better than I was expected. Here's proof of my incredible achievement:

Proof

I'm retiring this team from my own personal usage by posting it here. It isn't that great, mainly because of how hard this Arceus-Dragon set is to justify over other Swords Dance Arceus formes, but I welcome any suggested improvements. There are a few I can think of as I write this.

Team

Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Earthquake

I find myself using Excadrill very often on hyper offensive builds because its ability to do all of set up Stealth Rock, remove hazards, and annoy Defoggers with Toxic is just good to resist. Fairly self-explanatory. I prefer Excadrill to Cloyster because I find Stealth Rock more convenient than Spikes in general; plus, Cloyster takes more turns to do what it needs to do than Excadrill. Meanwhile, Dialga doesn't offer me hazard removal, which is kind of bad when I have a Yveltal on the team, while I find Deoxys-S very difficult to justify a lot of the time now that Darkrai is far less useful; this team is no exception.

Arceus-Dragon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail

A +2 Devastating Drake destroys just about anything in the tier that doesn't resist or have an immunity to it. Arceus-Dragon can also capitalise on the fact that nobody really expects Swords Dance variants to surprise the opposing team. In theory, it can scare out quite a few Pokemon, such as Mega Salamence that hasn't boosted, Arceus-Water that lack Ice Beam, Giratina-O, and defensive variants of Primal Groudon, and even lure in things like Xerneas expecting a passive support set. Should it be able to remove these annoying Pokemon from the match, Rock Polish Primal Groudon can more easily sweep. Unfortunately, against most teams, deciding when to use Devastating Drake is a crapshoot - Magearna really limits what Arceus-Dragon can do, and if it's paired with a Ground-type immunity, such as Lugia or Giratina-O, Arceus-Dragon's job becomes very difficult. Depending on whether or not it has boosted, Arceus-Dragon is also easily revenge killed by Pokemon that carry super effective moves, such as Choice Scarf Lunala (assuming Shadow Shield is active), Xerneas (which survives an unboosted Iron Tail and can either use Geomancy or click Moonblast), Arceus-Fairy (which Speed ties and survives a boosted Iron Tail even if Stealth Rock is up), and Deoxys-A. No priority or recovery is very annoying for this Arceus, and the lock-in effect of its STAB move after it has used Devastating Drake is absolutely appalling when Xerneas is such an omnipresent threat. It can work, but it needs a lot of support.

Groudon @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch

Groudon soft checks Xerneas, walls Magearna, and, crucially, deals with Steel-types for Arceus-Dragon. It also benefits from Arceus-Dragon's ability to harass levitating Dragon-types, albeit situationally. Rock Polish allows Groudon to attempt a sweep once its checks are removed by its teammate, while Precipice Blades and Stone Edge serve as STAB and coverage on Ho-Oh and weakened Salamence. Fire Punch improves my team's matchup against Celesteela and, to a lesser extent, Skarmory, while giving me an accurate option to throw out late-game. The Speed creep I run on this Groudon outspeeds most other Groudon, but I'm considering increasing it so that it can outspeed base 95 +Spe Choice Scarf Pokemon, which are uncommon but really frustrating to lose to.

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave

Extreme Killer Arceus is annoying for this team, as I have no Normal-type resistance outside of my suicide lead and no priority which I can use to revenge kill weakened ones. Gengar resolves this issue somewhat while also being a decent stallbreaker thanks to Taunt. Gengar also acts as a secondary soft check to Geomancy Xerneas, which is, as previously mentioned, a pain in the ass when your Arceus forme is so weak to it. Having only two attacking moves has proven very annoying, as there are times where I miss Shadow Ball, but Yveltal makes up for that to an extent.

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Thunder

This is standard Geomancy Xerneas for the most part, but I like to run maximum Special Attack and some Speed creep to get the edge on damage rolls and to outspeed other Xerneas that Geomancy alongside me. Xerneas helps my team deal with Dark-types a little bit better and heavily appreciates the support it gets from Rock Polish Groudon. I like to run three attacks on this solely for the type coverage it provides (it's also difficult to fit Aromatherapy on teams this offensive). In the event I do not want to waste Devastating Drake on a weakened Giratina-O, Xerneas is there for me. I've found that if Arceus-Dragon underperforms, Xerneas is able to pick up the slack (and vice versa, though this is rather uncommon).

Yveltal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing

Choice Scarf Yveltal's main role is to revenge kill Choice Scarf Lunala, Mewtwo, weakened Arceus-Ghost, and Deoxys-A, which all do a number on my team otherwise due to how slow it is. However, it is also a useful pivot thanks to U-turn and difficult for Xerneas to switch into thanks to the excellent chip damage Oblivion Wing does and the threat of Knock Off. It is Magearna bait, which leaves it somewhat helpless against teams that carry it, but (usually) I can U-turn out into Primal Groudon with proper prediction. I have considered running Heat Wave but it feels very difficult to fit on this set.

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Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Arceus-Dragon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail

Groudon @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Thunder

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave

Yveltal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing

Thanks for reading.

 

[Fireburn]

The lack of priority attacks makes this team pretty weak to GeoXern, it has two potential setup targets (Yveltal and +0 Dragon Arceus) and if Groudon is weakened into +2 HP Ground range there's nothing you can do. An easy fix would be to use SD Ghost Arceus instead of Dragon and switch Gengar to Lucario, but I'm assuming you want to keep Dragon Arceus so we need a different solution. You could try the following:

Use SR Groudon over current set (try both bulky and offensive)
Use LO Deoxys-A over Excadrill
Use Taunt LO Heat Wave Yveltal instead of Scarf

A bulkier Groudon would help you tank Scarf Xerneas which is a pretty huge threat to Arceus-Dragon, and it allows you to replace Excadrill to help cover some more holes defensively. Deoxys-A provides the priority without forcing you to use a diff Mega/Arceus forme or accentuating a hazard weakness by using Rayquaza, and it can assist Mega Gengar is beating stall due to its tendency to lure in and soften up Alolan Muk (or Gengar can take out Muk with Destiny Bond for Deo-A). Deoxys-A covers most revenge killing needs so you can then change Yveltal to a Taunt LO set with Heat Wave, both decreasing Xerneas's setup chances and giving you a way to lure in and take out Magearna.

With these changes, the odds of Arceus-Dragon reaching 1600 on the ladder improve ever so slightly. Good luck with your no doubt scintillating ladder adventures!