Momentum: The New Fragrance by Smogon.

[Edgar]

PEAK:

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Hey guys, today I present you my first X and Y Ubers RMT. I got the idea of building a team with Heatran, Scizor and Zekrom. Decided to use my favorite type of team, Balance.

Decided to use this core because I noticed that Zekrom’s typing is really good in this metagame, with a lot of flying types lurking, Ferrothorn not being as common and even Fairies have a hard time switching in Zekrom’s Bolt Strike not being as common I decided to give Zekrom a chance since it seemed really promising. Heatran and Scizor are such good teammates for Zekrom, Scizor and Heatran are also my double protection against Xerneas because I can beat it if it has Hidden Power Fire or Focus Blast. Scizor also synergizes really well with Zekrom, getting a Volturn core is also real nice since it keeps a lot of offensive presence. It’s just a good core in general.

I used this team for casual laddering for a long time and I really don’t feel like using it anymore, I also played some weekend tournaments with it as well, it works really well, I also gave this team to some of my friends they have also had success with it so I think it’s worth using if you want to win some battles. I’ll start by describing Heatran.

Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 128 SDef / 128 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Toxic

I really wanted to use Heatran because it seemed to have some niche in this metagame as well. Thanks to the buff that Defog got in this generation, pokemon like Lugia and Ho-Oh are roaming around in almost every team. Heatran’s typing is really good for completely shutting both down. Heatran turns Substitute Ho-Oh into free Stealth Rocks and not only, it can always scare them out with Toxic. Heatran is also really good against Fairy types, which were just introduced this generation, Heatran walls them completely. This abomination’s typing is also very good for status absorbing, something that is really needed in this metagame. As for moves, Lava Plume is for getting some nice burns on pokemon that might switch into Heatran although it backfire since some Pokemon are easier to deal with poisoned rather than burned. Stelth Rock is self explanatory. Roar is for removing Ho-Oh’s substitute as well phasing out other set up sweepers that may take advantage that Heatran can’t really touch them, like Extremekiller and Geomancy Xerneas, Toxic makes it a lot easier to deal with Pokemon like support Arceus and Lugia.

Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Knock Off


Scizor is probably the most important member of the team, it’s my main Xerneas check, it generates momentum pretty easily by forcing switches into things that resist U-turn like, Ho-Oh, Giratina, among others. I decided to go with the old 4th gen Specially Defensive Choice Band set, I thought it would be useful in this metagame since it would allow me to switch into Xerneas more consistently. I chose this set over full specially defensive or its Mega Evolution since those sets are weaker and I wanted more raw power in my team. Scizor does its job well and it’s really annoying seeing as its main checks are counters are destroyed by dragon types in the form of Palkia and Zekrom, which are given free switch-ins whenever I use U-turn. As for moves, U-turn and Bullet Punch are self explanatory. Superpower is something I thought for a while since it doesn’t really come in handy as much as the other three moves so I might change it for something like Defog. Knock Off is godly in this generation, it’s really useful against pokemon like Chansey and Aegislash.

Zekrom @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bolt Strike
- Outrage
- Volt Switch
- Sleep Talk


I realized that Zekrom was one of the best dragon types (if not the best) in this generation, reason being is that the most viable Fairy types can’t really switch into Zekrom reliably, they get 2HKO’d by Bolt Strike and they risk getting paralyzed by it. Zekrom’s Electric typing also allows it to check a lot of pokemon that are being used now, Arceus-Water, Ho-Oh, Lugia, etc. Zekrom also pairs very well with Scizor, since a lot of things that switch into U-turn are destroyed by either Outrage or Bolt Strike, good examples of this are Giratina and Ho-Oh. I decided to run Choice Scarf Zekrom on this team since it would help me check Pokemon like Arceus-Water, Kyogre and Mewtwo forms, things I was looking weak to. I prefer Jolly over Adamant because I also wanted to outspeed Deoxys-A and Mega Mewtwo Y and also Modest Scarf Kyogre. Bolt Strike and Outrage are really good STAB moves on Zekrom so I guess that’s kinda self explanatory. I prefer Volt Switch over Dragon Claw since it’s easier to play around Arceus-Rock/Fairy when I really need to and besides, I don’t think Dragon Claw is THAT useful since the Lati twins aren’t viable yet. Volt Switch also allows me to get a Volturn combination alongside Scizor. Sleep Talk allows me to beat Darkrai right off the bat, even if I get Volt Switch when using Sleep Talk I can go into my second check, which is Arceus-Fairy.

Palkia @ Lustrous Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Tail
- Spacial Rend
- Hydro Pump
- Fire Blast


I decided to use Palkia as my Kyogre check, I think it’s the best option for this team since Palkia keeps a lot of offensive pressure with so little effort. Palkia also synergizes well with Scizor and Heatran. Palkia also helps me check Pokemon like Heatran, Giratina and Ho-Oh. Although these pokemon are already checked by Pokemon I’ve already talked about, Palkia gets a lot of kills even if it only has Stealth Rocks as its only support since it forces a lot of switches, it’s a hard Pokemon to play around in general. Pokemon that might be able to switch into Palkia are checked by Zekrom, Scizor or Heatran, such as Lugia, Chansey, and Arceus-Grass. As for the item, I chose Lustrous Orb since in my opinion, it’s the best item for this type of team structure, it just dismantles teams with Hydro Pump, even though weather got brutally nerfed, Hydro Pump coming from Palkia is something to be scared of. Assault Vest and Haban Berry are good options too but I already have enough defensive support coming from Heatran, Arceus-Fairy and Scizor (sometimes) so I decided to go for the most offensive option, which was Lustrous Orb. It may seem weird that I’m running Timid nature with Dragon Tail but I need it for it to live the +2 Extremespeed from Adamant Arceus, it’s not really a big deal since it still achieves its main goal: phasing set up sweepers. Spacial Rend and Hydro Pump are really good STAB moves on Palkia, Hydro Pump allows it to get rid of Heatran, Ho-Oh and Groudon. Fire Blast is good in case I find a Ferrothorn, although this team doesn’t struggle much with it, it’s annoying when you have to switch out to Heatran because you don’t have Fire Blast and it gets up the Leech Seed or a layer of hazards, it’s more annoying when it misses though. About not having Thunder to check Kyogre, I decided not to use it since I have a more viable check if the Kyogre user predicts my switch into Palkia, Zekrom. Zekrom’s Bolt Strike is enough to check the killer whale.

Giratina-O @ Griseous Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 212 Atk / 252 Def / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Tail
- Stone Edge
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp


Giratina-O is still a great pokemon, although Dragon Tail gets used less because of the introduction of Fairy types, Giratina-O is still a great support Pokemon. When building this team I also considered using Landorus-T as my ground resist/ immunity but, Giratina-O can deal with sweepers like Extremekiller Arceus,(Mega) Blaziken and Groudon. Giratina-O also has Ghost type priority in the form of Shadow Sneak, with Steel losing its resistance to Ghost, Shadow Sneak makes it easier for Giratina to leave some prior damage to Pokemon like Genesect and Aegislash if I really need to. Shadow Sneak is also good against Deoxys leads and Mewtwo forms, which were introduced in this generation. I decided to recycle last gen’s pivot set. It does wonders in this new metagame too. As for moves, Dragon Tail helps me get rid of sweepers like Extremekiller, Blaziken, Groudon and Mega Mewtwo X. Stone Edge is also that I wanted to try out on Giratina since it’s a good lure for Ho-Oh, Stone Edge has been working really well, it’s really a big surprise for Ho-Oh. I think Stone Edge outclasses Earthquake in terms of coverage in this generation, with Terrakion, Kabutops and Excadrill not being nearly as common as they were in Black and White 2. I already explained Shadow Sneak above. Will-o-Wisp works great a support move as you already know, being able to burn Ferrothorn, Xerneas and Kyogre on the switch really helps. Giratina-O is still pretty good, fairy types just make it look bad.

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Judgment
- Defog
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp

I decided to use the newly released Pixie Plated Monster. Fairy typing is just so good on this Pokemon, having 120 base defenses, able to wall the best offensive typings in the tier and being able to switch into massive threats like Rayquaza and retaliate back with a powerful judgment. Arceus makes good use of its new plate. I decided to use a physically defensive Arceus because I think it supports this team better. I use 168 speed so I can outspeed Jolly/ Timid base 95 Pokemon, such as Kyurem and Rayquaza Decided to use Fireburn's suggestion as use enough to outspeed Timid Palkia since Lustrous Orb Palkia is a really big threat to this team. Judgment is just the standard STAB move, really strong even if not invested. I wanted Arceus to be my Defog user, as we all know, Defog got extremely buffed in this generation, Arceus is its best user, it gets to Defog fairly easily against any type of team. Getting rid of Stealth Rocks doesn’t really backfire at you when using this team since Heatran can set up rocks again with relative ease and not only that, I have ways to check Lugia and Ho-Oh even with Stealth Rocks not on the field. Recover is the standard recovery move and Will-o-Wisp is good for dealing with steel types that tend to switch in on the PPM, Aegislash, Ferrothorn, Scizor, Genesect, they all perish after they get burned. Something I forgot to mention is that Arceus-Fairy is very good against Mega Mewtwo X, probably the best counter.​

Biggest Threats and Annoying stall cores:

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Walls 4/6 of my team, my best bet is to try and burn it with Heatran and wear it down with Hydro Pump or Spacial Rend, not that common though. It tears me down if it has something like Earthquake.

Gets really annoying If used with Arceus-Poison or Aegislash, it gets really annoying if I can’t get the Knock Off but when I do, it’s pretty easy to deal with.

Mixed Zekrom being more specific, if it paralyses Arceus when I switch it in on Bolt Strike it will take a soul everytime it comes in since I give it a free turn with 4 of my Pokemon (Giratina, Scizor, Heatran and Zekrom locked into Bolt Strike).

ResTalk Kyogre paired with Ferrothorn gets really annoying, I need to play Palkia and Scizor very well, I need to burn Ferrothorn as soon as possible so it is easier to deal with it using Scizor's Knock Off and Superpower. Tentacruel can be also pretty annoying when paired with Ferrothorn, I could try EQ on giratina I guess.

CONCLUSION:

This team is really fun to use and it has very few major threats. Makes battles enjoyable and relatively fast, something we are kind of losing in this generation with the Defog buff.

Shoutouts to:

IDM
Problems
Blim
Donkey
Dice
Manaphy
MM2
Furai, eh.
polop
Sweep
Fireburn
All the people that are salty because they lost to Stone Edge Giratina.
My YT buddies :]


Importable:

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Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 128 SDef / 128 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Toxic

Giratina-O @ Griseous Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 212 Atk / 252 Def / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Tail
- Stone Edge
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp

Zekrom @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bolt Strike
- Outrage
- Volt Switch
- Sleep Talk

Palkia @ Lustrous Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Tail
- Spacial Rend
- Hydro Pump
- Fire Blast

Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Judgment
- Defog
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp

 

[Sweep]

Very strong team! It's vulnerable to rare/subpar threats like Calm Mind Arceus-Ground and offensive Heatran, but you have at least one strong check to every major threat in the game. I like that Fairy Arceus is physically defensive to handle Rock Polish Groudon, just make sure you keep it relatively high on health throughout the match if you see one.

Knock Off Scizor is so good .

 

[Fireburn]

The only thing I would recommend is bumping up your Arceus's Speed investment a bit to outspeed Palkia - Lustrous Orb sets can easily KO most of your team once/if they figure out your Arceus is slower. Earthquake Ho-Oh is also annoying but you have enough checks to it imo.

Great team!

 

[Edgar]

The only thing I would recommend is bumping up your Arceus's Speed investment a bit to outspeed Palkia - Lustrous Orb sets can easily KO most of your team once/if they figure out your Arceus is slower. Earthquake Ho-Oh is also annoying but you have enough checks to it imo.

Great team!

Yeah that sounds like a good idea actually, Thanks :]

 

[Disaster Area]

Liking the team as well. Whilst the peak is meh and that I thought initially that having heatrann+scizor was daft, especially finding heatran not useful in practice, I am loving the scizor+Zekrom core. I know we've kinda discussed already in the analysis thread, and that to check Xerneas properly you want 248 HP / 56 Atk / 12 Def / 192 SpD with Careful, BUT tbh you can move the 12 Def EVs to Atk since those EVs are only for ekiller. I know it's only a small thing, and the more power might suit you, however with that spread you can beat Xerneas even if Modest 252 SpAtk after a geomancy carrying focus blast and with stealth rocks up, which is kinda like worst case scenario anyway.. 248 HP>252 HP just because of it being a stealth rock number.

Still, loving the team and it's very nicely put together.

 

[moonbase]

I thank you for making the battles go quicker with this team, because of all the people stealing it. The peak sucks, IDK if it was meant to troll smogon or not. IMO, thief > knock off on scizor for more reliability.


Fuck Stone Edge Giratina O

 

[Edgar]

Hi Edgar, this is a pretty cool team and is one of the best RMTs of this generation so far (which isn't saying much, as there aren't that many yet, but still... lol). Mega-Gengar seems threatening, but you can kind of handle that so long as you play well.

I do have one suggestion: Substitute or Thunder in place of Dragon Tail on Palkia. You have a strong defensive backbone with the team, and setup sweepers are a non-issue, whilst substitute can be quite threatening when given the chance to set up. Thunder is also cool so you actually get solid damage on Kyogre, but isn't necessary by any means.

Cosigning Fireburn's suggestion for a speedier Faryceus.

Also, this is minor, but I might do Roar>Dragon Tail on Giratina-O as it scouts stuff like Fairyceus and Xerneass better, while you have Scizor and a potential Arceus-Fairy to check Extremekiller Arceus, anyway.

Fuck Stone Edge Giratina-O.

So you only suggest Roar over Dtail, meh. It's not really a big deal since I don't stay against fairies when I have 2 checks for them lol.

I thank you for making the battles go quicker with this team, because of all the people stealing it. The peak sucks, IDK if it was meant to troll smogon or not. IMO, thief > knock off on scizor for more reliability.


Fuck Stone Edge Giratina O

The peak is 100% serious, I see Knock Off being more useful on Scizor since it can take out chansey's eviolite among other things but thanks.

And thanks pixelplode for the compliments :]

 

[Krauersaut]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ubers-87547150

..... ;(

 

[Edgar]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ubers-87547150

..... ;(

You played it pretty badly.

 

[Krauersaut]

You played it pretty badly.

Very, very, very true. However, there is an undeniable weakness to late game calm-mind sweepers...

 

[Edgar]

Very, very, very true. However, there is an undeniable weakness to late game calm-mind sweepers...

No it's not, you can hydro pump with palkia, toxic it with heatran, pressure it with scizor and dragon tail it with Giratina-O lol.

 

[Inspirited]

If there is any weakness to this team beyond Lustrous orb Palkia, It's Deoxys A as Scizor can only switch into Stealth Rock+Psycho Nuke once if it's the spread that I normally run(4 Atk, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spd Rash Nature) and it doesn't need stealth rock if Deoxys has a life orb. Deoxys has the freedom to spam Psycho Nuke and watch things die so you may lose a poke time it switches in, potentially opening up a sweep from another opposing threat.

I just found that conservative LO Deoxys players such as myself can get the upper hand on this team fairly easily
By eventually punching through a Keystone Pokemon and letting my win condition destroy the rest of the team.

I guess that's the nature of Ubers though and I'm not sure if there is a helpful way of patching this.

 

[Krauersaut]

No it's not, you can hydro pump with palkia, toxic it with heatran, pressure it with scizor and dragon tail it with Giratina-O lol.

Not specifically Rockceus, and late game, especially if there IS only one mon left, Dragon Tail can't do %!@#. While I absolutely understand that I misplayed quite badly, there's a weakness to Calm Mind late game sweepers in general...

 

[Edgar]

Not specifically Rockceus, and late game, especially if there IS only one mon left, Dragon Tail can't do %!@#. While I absolutely understand that I misplayed quite badly, there's a weakness to Calm Mind late game sweepers in general...

If that's your justification for pointing out a weakness then every team is weak to a late game sweeper lol. Your reasoning is inaccurate (to put it nicely), you can asume what the Arceus type is on the team preview and therefor play around it, and you also need to pay attention on how the opponent is playing Arceus and make a strategy to play around it. If the player can't do that simple task then he/she shouldn't be playing with this team. And I'm only being defensive about it because what you say makes no sense whatsoever and only makes you look ignorant.

If there is any weakness to this team beyond Lustrous orb Palkia, It's Deoxys A as Scizor can only switch into Stealth Rock+Psycho Nuke once if it's the spread that I normally run(4 Atk, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spd Rash Nature) and it doesn't need stealth rock if Deoxys has a life orb. Deoxys has the freedom to spam Psycho Nuke and watch things die so you may lose a poke time it switches in, potentially opening up a sweep from another opposing threat.

I just found that conservative LO Deoxys players such as myself can get the upper hand on this team fairly easily
By eventually punching through a Keystone Pokemon and letting my win condition destroy the rest of the team.

I guess that's the nature of Ubers though and I'm not sure if there is a helpful way of patching this.

What Steelskitty said. Also, in Ubers it is nearly impossible to find 6 Pokemon that can siwtch into every threat in the tier, that's why ubers is more of "checking stuff" rather than "countering it". You only need a proper counter to stuff or big threats that teams overall are weak to.

 

[Inspirited]

He really isn't weak to Deo-A, especially the LO variants. Zekrom outspeeds and kills, Gira-O switches in and kills, Scizor switches in on anything barring Fire Punch (which is uncommon now, to my knowledge), and kills. Fairy Arceus actually does fine vs Deo if it recovers as Deo-A Psycho Boosts, just so long as deoxys doesn't have Meteor Mash or some shit. Basically it gets a free turn vs two members of the team, and even then it needs to have crazy prediction skills to do actual damage.

Ya, I guess it's the person calling the shots that makes Deoxys dangerous, I personally have a ton of experience using it so I KNOW when it is being checked and when it's checks are going to switch out so I can double back into Deoxys.(it has been on 14 out of 16 good teams I have made since 4th gen) Ignore my original post.

Also, I'm sure Edgar knows this, NEVER switch in Arceus blindly into Deoxys as any Life Orb variant will 2HKO with Psycho Boost.

252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-A Psycho Boost vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy: 325-383 (73.1 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

-2 252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-A Psycho Boost vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy: 164-192 (36.9 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

 

[Li Xiao Long]

Fuck Stone Edge Giratina-O.

Stop being mad b/c you're weak to it :]

Anyways, I like this team a lot.
It actually seems a little Mkanga weak, but mkanga is gay.

 

[Disaster Area]

Stone Edge gira-O fucks flareon :(