OU Cores in the BW2 Metagame

[Ames]

what's Xatu's use? Is it because it's the only viable Magic Bouncer who learns U-Turn? Doesn't Espeon do this already, but with Baton Pass?

For one, Xatu is infinitely cooler than Espeon lol. Personal preference aside though, its advantages lie in Thunder Wave and a sexy 4x Fighting resist (also resisting grass, letting you somewhat counter Breloom).

Those are generally the reasons I prefer it, though I would love to hear some other boons that Xatu has over Espeon.

 

[alexwolf]

Better physical bulk, Ground immunity, Roost and Heat Wave are the most notable examples.

 

[alkinesthetase]

let's start here. xatu is

bulkier. its special defense is notably less than espeon's, but its phys def is better, and it has a more useful typing. they both have worthless hp. psychic's resistances tend to lie on the physical side so physdef is really appreciated. certainly flying brings a weakness to rock, ice and elec, but psychic on its own is virtually useless since its only useful resist is fighting, and so physical defense is nice. flying gives xatu an extra resist to fighting, a neutrality to bug (espeon gets destroyed by uturn...), and a really sweet immunity to ground. this also gives it immunity to spikes and toxic spikes... but if you're playing xatu well, those hazards shouldn't be active in the first place =p

reliable recovery. espeon has to rely on crappy ass morning sun which will be nice on sun teams but sucky against any other weather. xatu has roost which not only helps escape the flaws of its fly typing against slower opponents, but is actually a reliable way of recovering health.

u-turn. no need to explain this one.

heat wave. xatu's access to heat wave means it can actually hurt some of the hazard setters it likes to come in on (you won't touch tentacruel, but ferrothorn, skarm and forretress can kiss their ass goodbye if they stay in), where as espeon has to choose between hp fire for those steel types, and hp fighting for tyranitar. espeon's attack options are generally more limited than xatu's (espeon gets shadow ball and signal beam but it is desperate for a hidden power to expand its super coverage, where as xatu functions fine without hidden power), although it's not like anyone runs offensive xatu lol. heat wave also gets pseudostab under sun and is stronger than hp fire. get this: 5% of people actually ran hp fire xatu. yup.

thunder wave. xatu's access to thunder wave means it can cripple any fast guys switching into it. espeon is way faster so it's not as much of a concern, but espeon's support options are relatively limited once you go past screens.

finally, more room on its set. the standard espeon iirc is dual screens, which not only has rather limited utility outside of fragile offensive teams, but has VERY little room for other moves. xatu on the other hand has a standard set of uturn/roost/heat wave/fourth slot (fourth slot being twave or reflect imo. psychic is an option if not in sun but in sun heatwave is superior) which incorporates so much more. espeon can run cm sets, in which case it finds room for baton pass to challenge xatu's uturn, but such an offensive set really reduces your longevity.

in other words, xatu is generally a better bulky magic bouncer than espeon, roost being the #1 reason and u-turn probably being the second. this is important on teams where xatu needs to bounce repeatedly, the common example being sun volt-turn where xatu often provides much better momentum than a spinner if played well. xatu can be turned in on almost any hazard setter and immediately force it out (it bounces your hazards so you can't set up, and many of the setters are also threatened by its pseudostab heat wave), where as a spinner has to take the time to spin away and boom momentum all gone. espeon has much more offensive power and can cm if it really wants to, but it gets utterly destroyed by crunches, pursuits and uturns where as xatu can take all of these, and because it gets worn down more easily due to lack of room for recovery.

 

[HardCore]

Ok so I've been using a smash pass team, which of course is just another hated baton pass team to most people. However to me it's much harder to pull of than a full baton pass team and much faster. It's quite fun seeing a super boosted Pokemon getting a fast sweep early, mid, and late game.

The core is Smeargle, Espeon, and Gorebyss for the base of any smash pass teams. I added Huntail, because he gives me a second chance to Smash pass to my 3 sweepers, which are Garchomp (Ou Suspect), Dragonite, and Espeon.

Each set was made to give each Pokemon the best sweeping capabilities I could while minding their speeds. Each speed is either max or allows the Pokemon to out speed scarfed Gengar (Base 110 speed). I really like the team and I'm sure you can run any two or 3 sweepers you like on the team with the core.

My Sets

Hide

Smeargle @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
IVs: 22 SDef
- Trick
- Spore
- Stealth Rock
- Memento

Espeon @ Colbur Berry
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 64 Spd / 252 HP / 192 SAtk
- Baton Pass
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot

Gorebyss @ White Herb
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Baton Pass
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam

These three Pokemon have different jobs to contribute to a team such as this. Though it's basic since I like to talk I'm gonna tell you about each one of them. Smeargle is a great lead regardless of the opponents potential lead, because either he spores, tricks, mementos, or gets plain OHKOed at the least. His job is to try his best to prevent the enemy from setting up and also to try to get up Rocks too. The last part of his job is to create a safe path for Gorebyss or Huntail. If they can just get 1 turn safely without dying they can baton pass to the two obvious sweepers or even to the fairly bulky Magic Bounce Espeon. Since Espeon has a chance to sweep, prevent hazards, prevents phazing, and can continue the baton pass chain right before it dies it's perfect! The last sentence pretty much defines Espeon's role on the team. Last is Gorebyss who's just essential in the combination for smash passing. Gorebyss has potential to get off a small sweep then when it doubt pass to something else. It can pass to Huntail too mid to late game to get off an amazing +4 attack, Special attack, and speed without the lowering of defenses or wasting any time.

Smash passing is fun!

 

[Asek]

Nice smash passing core Hardcore, I might make a team out of that one, its one of the few good ones I've seen.

Anyway, I'm back with a really cool sandstorm core I made.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant I Trait: Sandstream
EV's: 188HP/ 240Atk / 44SpD/ 36Spe
Stone Edge / Pursuit/ Superpower/ Crunch

(east form is sexy)
Gastrodon @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest I Trait: Storm Drain
EV's: 248HP/ 252SpA/ 8Spe
Scald / Earth power/ Ice Beam/ Recover

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Naive I Trait: Sand Force
EV's: 252Atk/ 4SpA/ 252Spe IV's: 30Atk, 30Def
Earthquake/ Stone Edge/ Hidden Power [ICE]/ U-turn

This core is really cool to use, it excels at winning the weather war and then punishing the opponent with Landorus's powerful Earthquakes. Specs Gastrodon is so cool and unexpected, especially in sand and it helps drastically in beating Politoed and friends. Once hes got a Storm Drain Boost, Scald will simply wipe out everything, and means I usually get a good match up against standard rain. Band tyranitar also goes a long way to winning weather wars, as band pursuits wreck choice variants of Abomasnow and Politoed once they're locked into the wrong move. Sun is a little harder to handle, but Ninetales can't switch in anywhere here, as all of the core punishes it severely with the right move, so I can effectively lock it out of the match for long periods of time. Landorus doubles as a revenge killer and a semi-sweeper, as once levitating pokemon are gone I can just spam Earthquake and stuff just falls down before its sheer power. I found a great partner for the core was Magnezone, as it eliminates some of the peskier Steels that trouble the core, and beats Skarmory which lets Landorus run rampant with his superpower. Something to watch out for though is SD Lucario, who can run through you if you give it a chance.

Sandstorm too good

 

[bubbly]

One of my favourite defensive cores at the moment:

Gyarados @ Leftovers, Intimidate
Impish, 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 SpDef
-Waterfall
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Dragon Tail

Amoonguss @ Leftovers, Regenerator
Calm, 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpDef
-Spore
-Stun Spore
-Clear Smog
-Giga Drain

Forretress @ Leftovers, Sturdy
Calm, 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpDef
-Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Pain Split
-Volt Switch

Right, so, to my mind this is just an improvement on the established AmoongBro core. Gyarados is just so superior to Slowbro in this metagame it's ridiculous, especially with Spin support. A U-turn resistance, actually helps against Sun, beats Tyranitar, Sheer Force Lando, Volcarona and the like...and practically immune to status, so it's just about the best initial switch in to Breloom. Amoonguss counters Breloom and a lot of Rain threats as well as the obvious Electric typed threats. Finally, Forretress gives Rapid Spin support as well as Spikes which the core can abuse with Dragon Tail and it's ability to switch between members safely.

This core is actually pretty self sufficient and there aren't any essential supporting pokemon I can suggest. Tyranitar, SpDef Hippowdon, Heatran, Chans / Bliss, or Jirachi all work fine for negating weather and the likes of Tornadus and most special attacking Dragons which can trouble it.

 

[Prinz]

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Icy Wind
- Surf

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

Breloom (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 188 SDef / 84 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Seed Bomb
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch

Triple fight is standard but very cool. Choice specs keldeo hits everything hard in rain with hydro pump or surf, according to the situation, in many situations I want the accuracy of surf, in other I want the power of hydro pump to destroy the walls of opponent. Sash Terrakion is op too, it can setup easily the stealth rock and hits hard until it's in life helped by sword dance if necessary. Finally, I use BU Breloom because I don't like a lot the little resistance of sword dance technical Breloom and because I wanted to try BU Breloom in BW2 and I have very good results.

 

[shadowxevo]

@Lavos Spawn
Hmm... Would you use that core on a weatherless or different weather than Sun (Obviously minus Rain)? Would it be worth it in your opinion?

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp

Celebi @ Life Orb Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 92 HP / 240 SAtk / 176 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- U-turn

Keldeo @ Leftovers Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost]


I've been speaking of good partners to Heatran on this thread, then I realized that part of my post would be better if posted here.


Defensively speaking, Heatran resists all of Celebi's weakness and vice-versa, while Keldeo also resists some of Heatran and Celebi's weakness; Keldeo tanks Water-type attacks aimed at Heatran, and Dark-type, Bug-type, Fire-type and Ice-type attacks aimed at Celebi, while Celebi resists the Psychic, Grass and Electric-type weakness of Keldeo, and Heatran resists the Psychic, Grass and Flying weakness of Keldeo.


Celebi destroys most bulky Water-types that Heatran and Keldeo may have difficulty to defeat, and provides paralysis support, that both Keldeo and Heatran love, Heatran especially, as it is slow.


Heatran defeats the Grass-types that Keldeo may not defeat, and absorbs Fire-type attacks aimed at Celebi.


Thogether, Heatran and Celebi clear the path and/or cripple the opponent so that Keldeo can setup and sweep. Also, Keldeo and Heatran, thogeter, form an combination that destroy any Steel-type in existence.

This core has somewhat of a problem with the Lati twins, but both Keldeo and Heatran can take them down by themselves depending of the situation. On my team, I am using Tyranitar, as it can take out the Lati twins, and there is also another pokémon that I am using to take out Dragon-types just in case that Heatran has difficulty with one, such as when its Balloon pops out, or when the dragon in question has Fighting or Water attacks. Also, because Tyranitar can already muscle between Lati@s by itself, I am using HP Electric instead of HP Ghost on Keldeo. This is just in case that Celebi dies, as this lets Keldeo muscle its way against bulky Water-types by itself.

 

[blunder]

^

Fantastic core here :] I have been using this with Swords Dance Terrakion and LO Latias and it is really effective in snatching the momentum from your opponent. Great Core

 

[bubbly]

Pursuit Tyranitar + HP Ice Keldeo is a great offensive core in and of itself, the only things it can't really handle are Amoonguss and Gyarados.

 

[alexwolf]

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 156 HP / 128 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Thunder / Thunderbolt
- Recover / Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin


+

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Overheat / Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave / Hidden Power [Ice]
- Pain Split

I am using this core in my rain team and it rocks. Starmie and Rotom-H work very well together as Starmie can beat many water types and many dragon types that are looking for a free switch into Rotom-H. Starmie also spins very easy as it comes in safe with a Volt Switch. The SpA evs on Starmie ensure that it will 2HKO standard Jellicent after SR with Thunder. Rotom-H counters many electric, bug and grass pokes that threaten Starmie and are big metagame threats anyway, such as Tornadus-T, Genesect, Thundurus-T and Ferrothorn.

This core is also good because it can work in both most common weathers, sand and rain. Many pokes have good synergy with this core, such as Ferrothorn, Genesect (obviously, this fucker works with everything) and Amoonguss, making this core even more versatile, being able to fit in a whole bunch of teams.

 

[Neliel]

Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp

Celebi @ Life Orb Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 92 HP / 240 SAtk / 176 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- U-turn

Keldeo @ Leftovers Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost]


I've been speaking of good partners to Heatran on this thread, then I realized that part of my post would be better if posted here.


Defensively speaking, Heatran resists all of Celebi's weakness and vice-versa, while Keldeo also resists some of Heatran and Celebi's weakness; Keldeo tanks Water-type attacks aimed at Heatran, and Dark-type, Bug-type, Fire-type and Ice-type attacks aimed at Celebi, while Celebi resists the Psychic, Grass and Electric-type weakness of Keldeo, and Heatran resists the Psychic, Grass and Flying weakness of Keldeo.


Celebi destroys most bulky Water-types that Heatran and Keldeo may have difficulty to defeat, and provides paralysis support, that both Keldeo and Heatran love, Heatran especially, as it is slow.


Heatran defeats the Grass-types that Keldeo may not defeat, and absorbs Fire-type attacks aimed at Celebi.


Thogether, Heatran and Celebi clear the path and/or cripple the opponent so that Keldeo can setup and sweep. Also, Keldeo and Heatran, thogeter, form an combination that destroy any Steel-type in existence.

This core has somewhat of a problem with the Lati twins, but both Keldeo and Heatran can take them down by themselves depending of the situation. On my team, I am using Tyranitar, as it can take out the Lati twins, and there is also another pokémon that I am using to take out Dragon-types just in case that Heatran has difficulty with one, such as when its Balloon pops out, or when the dragon in question has Fighting or Water attacks. Also, because Tyranitar can already muscle between Lati@s by itself, I am using HP Electric instead of HP Ghost on Keldeo. This is just in case that Celebi dies, as this lets Keldeo muscle its way against bulky Water-types by itself.

wouldnt flame chearge on heatran be better if used with calm mind baton pass celebi?

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

wouldnt flame chearge on heatran be better if used with calm mind baton pass celebi?

I think that yes, since CM Baton Pass Celebi can already augment Heatran's power and Heatran then only need to fix its speed. However, I never tried to use this combination.

 

[peng]

Everyone seems to be posting cores with Keldeo so I might as well chime in with another.

Hide

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake / Superpower

Other than Shed Shell Tyranitar, this is probably the closest thing to a good Tyranitar set in BW2. Tyranitar has taken a big hit in BW2 since it loses to practically all the new Pokemon and new Dream World releases, but it works well in this core for trapping and removing Keldeo's common counters (Latias, Latios, Jellicent, etc and at a push Celebi). Other than beating these Pokemon and Pursuiting weakened Politoed / Ninetales to win a "weather war", Tyranitar is honestly very underwhelming in BW2, but it does what it needs to I guess.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 28 Def / 236 Spd
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Earthquake
- Taunt / Toxic

Sets up subs and then passes them away to teammates, pretty simple stuff. Tyranitar loves being passed subs so it doesn't have to switch-in on a potential Choice Specs Politoed directly, or risk getting Scald burned. Tyranitar behind a sub can also cause some problems for sun because its not instant Dugtrio fodder. Once Tyranitar has taken out Latias, Latios, Jellicent etc, the game plan shifts to passing Keldeo a Substitute so it can Calm Mind freely. Taunt prevents Forretress / Skarmory / Ferrothorn from just setting up Spikes all over me.

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Ghost]

Keldeo is pretty hard for teams to a lot of teams to check when they can't status it or immediately revenge-kill it, which is why passing a Substitute to it works excellently. Keldeo makes an excellent partner to Gliscor because of its Water- and Ice-type resistances giving me plenty of chances to SubPass away. Hidden Power [Ice] is generally the better option to hit Dragonite and Salamence because Tyranitar is already dealing with the targets of Hidden Power [Ghost] pretty well already.

The team has been working pretty well so far although I often overestimate how bulky Keldeo is - its definitely not the BW Suicune that I expected it to be. The rest of the team changes around quite a lot but it generally has one of Skarmory / Bronzong, a Scarfer and then a second water-resist / Rain check.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

These 156 Speed EVs on Tyranitar are to outspeed what threats? I am currently using 100 speed to outspeed Skarmory. Also, I think that Superpower is the primary option not only because of the pink blobs but is also a better coverage move overall than Earthquake. Nonetheless this core is great and I've been using 2/3 of it on my team, only not using Gliscor.

 

[dice]

most spdef tran and 0 speed dnite, same benchmark i use.

 

[emotionale90]

Nice smash passing core Hardcore, I might make a team out of that one, its one of the few good ones I've seen.

Anyway, I'm back with a really cool sandstorm core I made.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant I Trait: Sandstream
EV's: 188HP/ 240Atk / 44SpD/ 36Spe
Stone Edge / Pursuit/ Superpower/ Crunch

(east form is sexy)
Gastrodon @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest I Trait: Storm Drain
EV's: 248HP/ 252SpA/ 8Spe
Scald / Earth power/ Ice Beam/ Recover

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Naive I Trait: Sand Force
EV's: 252Atk/ 4SpA/ 252Spe IV's: 30Atk, 30Def
Earthquake/ Stone Edge/ Hidden Power [ICE]/ U-turn

This core is really cool to use, it excels at winning the weather war and then punishing the opponent with Landorus's powerful Earthquakes. Specs Gastrodon is so cool and unexpected, especially in sand and it helps drastically in beating Politoed and friends. Once hes got a Storm Drain Boost, Scald will simply wipe out everything, and means I usually get a good match up against standard rain. Band tyranitar also goes a long way to winning weather wars, as band pursuits wreck choice variants of Abomasnow and Politoed once they're locked into the wrong move. Sun is a little harder to handle, but Ninetales can't switch in anywhere here, as all of the core punishes it severely with the right move, so I can effectively lock it out of the match for long periods of time. Landorus doubles as a revenge killer and a semi-sweeper, as once levitating pokemon are gone I can just spam Earthquake and stuff just falls down before its sheer power. I found a great partner for the core was Magnezone, as it eliminates some of the peskier Steels that trouble the core, and beats Skarmory which lets Landorus run rampant with his superpower. Something to watch out for though is SD Lucario, who can run through you if you give it a chance.

Sandstorm too good

I like this Core a lot.
Made this team and it works really well for me.

Hide

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 180 HP / 76 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Crunch

Gastrodon @ Choice Specs
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Recover

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 148 HP / 252 SAtk / 108 Spd
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon

Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip

 

[Neliel]

Honestly, i think that offensive Gastrodon is too slow to get some kill, however, i dont see the point of Specs+recover, wouldnt it be better with Life orb? it also helps somehow to avoid being locked into a move, that makes this set even better.

 

[Shurtugal]

Gastrodon with Specs is actually a great wallbreaker vs. rain teams. I had a big Rotom-W weakness on this one team, and it fit nicely. I would just use the move counter over recover on the Specs set so you can nab a free kill on lead Genesect

 

[alkinesthetase]

Arbitrator (Latias) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd (don't run this shit with reduced speed latias, it still loses to stab pursuit/uturn >_> 252+ speed or bust)
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar / Hidden Power [Fire] (historically i have run Roar because full stall ftw)

Operations (Heatran) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire (or Flame Body to troll Genesect 8D but you're a lot weaker against sun)
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SDef / 16 Spd (just a little speed creep)
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Lava Plume
- Roar
- Stealth Rock / Will-O-Wisp (if you have room for it, it's really good, but Heatran beats Xatu one-on-one which is a crucial reason to run SR on it)

i did not invent this (FAAAAAR from it) but it deserves a post

this core, or various moveset permutations of it, has featured on every team i've laddered with in the past six months. a VERY defensive core both in sense and play with superb type synergy. latias is a very nice auxiliary win condition for stall teams and these two can phaze almost any special attacker.

as two mons, it has a lot of flaws and gaps, but usually it only takes one additional mon to close them up and free up some teambuilding space - that slot varies a lot from team to team which is why i didn't include it. generally the most important thing to add is a solid counter plan to most physical attackers, something that can spread burn or that frees up a slot for heatran to spread burn (watch out for physical fire types, eg darmanitan/infernape). jellicent and tentacruel are good examples.

further elaboration, you can skip this part

without a doubt this is a stall core; it can fit well on many teams and i am FAR from the progenitor of this pairing, but i always use it on stall because that's like the only playstyle i'm capable of lol. latias is a superb mon right now, my absolute favorite pick competitively and it has saved my ass/won the game more times than i can count across the teams I've used it on (going back to early BW1 before i became smogon-active). if you can sneak in the first calm mind, a ton of things can be set up on from there out. in fact pretty much any unstabbed +0 super effective special attack, and anything weaker, can be set up on if you have the first CM already in the bag. this latias loses to the things that most latias lose to - pursuit trapping, stab uturn, status and phazing. i don't run HP fire because it's a stall team and the phazing is sorely appreciated in the midgame; however my current team has enough phazers that i am contemplating it. makes sweeping a lot easier lol.

which is where the heatran comes in. we all know how good heatran is at countering genesect (watch out for sectrio though - my old team used shed shell heatran for it, but i have other answers to it now so i no longer use that set). latias and heatran resist each other's weaknesses perfectly, and unlike celetran, latias is not FATALLY g-weak (still very much so, though. heatran will clean up most defensive steels to pave for a sweep if that's the long-term plan; even in rain, ferrothorn will not last forever against you (but heatran is not a great answer to rain ferro >_> be sure to run a better counter). it also absorbs status very nicely (slow heatran dgaf about para, even more so if you run restalk). if you have room for the burn, it is REALLY good on heatran in conjunction with latias - catching shit like genesect with the burn turns it into setup fodder when normally it would be a latias counter. right now though i run sr because FUCK XATU. my current team has hippo, who cannot beat xatu one on one, so i refused to use that as my sr setter.

the real beauty of this core is that together, these two pokemon can answer almost any special attacker in the game. "uncounterable" threats like boosted volcarona can be phazed by this pair; this is what makes it so good on stall. you still have to dance carefully in the face of powerhouses like NP+3 thundurus-T, but you're not lacking in solutions (non-LO NP thundy-T cannot KO latias with +2 hp ice after rocks!).

 

[the nub]

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon

Garchomp @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Substitute

Kyurem-B @ Choice Band
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Fusion Bolt

I LOVE this core, with the power of Kyurem-B that only the Steel have posibilities, they are trapped by Magnezone, Garchomp, do the same of Kyurem-B is nice :D. This Core can be accompanied by a Tyranitar.

 

[Shurtugal]

@ alkinesthetase

With 112 attack investment, Scarf Gene can OHKO Latias after SR damage, so your best bet is actually Heatran, and Duggy kind of makes it Shed Shell reliant otherwise. Of course, not many people actually RUN 112 attack Evs like I do so I guess that core is pretty solid ^_^

 

[alkinesthetase]

yeah genesect is a problem for any latias. like i said, the team i currently run that core on has other solutions for genesect (so i don't need to hard switch heatran into it every single time, which is extremely constricting and gets predictable really fast) and also for genesect+dugtrio (which means i don't have to run shed shell >_>). still, it's surprising how few people actually run the genesect+dugtrio pair... i'm always prepared for it in theory but it makes up a surprisingly small portion of standard OU ladder.

and i've actually set up on a burned genesect before with latias (its uturn doesn't do enough to stop me from healing up cause of the burn, and the uturn forces them out. unstabbed ice beam won't do shit to a +1 latias). but burning it can be quite tricky so i agree that such a case is quite rare. people need to stop switching it into jellicent thinking they can go for a free thunderbolt lol

 

[Azotal]

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Multiscale
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Extremespeed | Fire Punch | Earthquake | Outrage

Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Magnet Pull
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Thunderbolt | Hidden Power [Fire] | Flash Cannon | Volt Switch

Latios @ Choice Specs
Levitate
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Surf | Draco Meteor | Trick | Psyshock



This core is super straightforward (everyone knows it, but it wasn't posted, so I thought I'd share). Magnezone abuses his superior speed (compared to Magneton) to deal with other Steel-types. Once those Steel-types are gone, there's nothing stopping the dragon spam. Simply pair it with a scarfer, another dragon, and some Stealth Rocks, and you're beyond set.

Dragonite and Latios are there to break holes in walls by being amazingly strong Pokemon. And in the rare event that there's something that you have too much trouble with, Latios has trick.

Next, you can abuse volt switch on Magneton (and possibly a U-turn on another Pokemon) to gain absurd amounts of momentum. This team is all centered around maintaining momentum. If you can mantain it, however, it's almost impossible to beat this team.