APPROVED BY ALEXWOLF
Ok, since Alexander was banned I asked Alexwolf permission to open a new thread about it..
At this point everyone should know the rules of it, but I'll make sure that I'll repeat them.
Here you have to post a "standard" set of any usable pokèmon, this isn't the place of gimmick sets. You should also export your set from a simulator, I don't mind if its either PS or PO, but make sure that what you posted is clear. You have also to give to the set of the pokèmon you posted a role. I'll post the roles later in this post, and I'll probably add some in future if I forgot to do this now.
Also, feel free to discuss at the other people's set, but do that civility. I remember to everyone that this thread is also useful to get noticed for the Community Contributor badge, so I expect from this quality sets and quality discussions.
That being said, I will just begin to post the roles I'm looking for at the moment:
What to use:
What NOT to use:
Very well, since after Aegislash's and Mawile's bans the Metagame changed greatly, I decided to completely overhaul the actual Pokemons added in the previous Teambuilding Thread by TRC, I will later add some standard roles, feel free to post, and remember, no Gimmicks.
Ok, since Alexander was banned I asked Alexwolf permission to open a new thread about it..
At this point everyone should know the rules of it, but I'll make sure that I'll repeat them.
Here you have to post a "standard" set of any usable pokèmon, this isn't the place of gimmick sets. You should also export your set from a simulator, I don't mind if its either PS or PO, but make sure that what you posted is clear. You have also to give to the set of the pokèmon you posted a role. I'll post the roles later in this post, and I'll probably add some in future if I forgot to do this now.
Also, feel free to discuss at the other people's set, but do that civility. I remember to everyone that this thread is also useful to get noticed for the Community Contributor badge, so I expect from this quality sets and quality discussions.
That being said, I will just begin to post the roles I'm looking for at the moment:
What to use:
By Fourth Inversion
What to Use:
Ampharos @ Ampharosite
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Agility
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Role: Special Sweeper / Late-Game Cleaner
What it Does: Despite Mega Ampharos only having 45 base speed, with 252 speed EVs and a Modest nature, it reaches 378 speed after an Agility, just outpacing Timid Greninja's 377 base speed. Talonflame, who Mega Ampharos easily beats 1v1, is the only pokemon that is OU by usage who outspeeds Mega Ampharos. Mega Ampharos has a good defensive typing, allowing it to set up an Agility against many pokemon in the tier, and then proceed to wreak havoc on the opponent with its high 165 Special Attack.
Mega Ampharos gets great coverage with its STABs, which take up the second and third slots. Thunder is its' strongest STAB, but the low accuracy outside of rain makes Thunderbolt the best choice for a weatherless team. Mega Ampharos lacks Draco Meteor, so Dragon Pulse is the only choice for a secondary STAB. Focus Blast is the best option for the final slot, as it hits common pokemon like Tyranitar, Ferrothorn and Excadrill, who can otherwise shrug off Electric and Dragon type moves. The only pokemon who currently resists all three of these moves is Whimsicott, who is very rare in OU. Mega Ampharos gains Mold Breaker upon Mega Evolving, which has a few uses, chiefly breaking through Skarmory's Sturdy and Dragonite's Multiscale.
Although Agility, Rock Polish, Automize and Tailwing are fairly widely distributed, Mega Ampharos is one of the few pokemon who can effectively run a setup sweeper set using one of these moves. Firstly, Mega Ampharos has a great defensive typing, providing it with a resistance to Talonflame's Brave Bird, Bullet Punch and Aqua Jet, and only leaving it vulnerable to Ice Shard (which it easily has enough bulk to survive) making it difficult to revenge kill. Secondly, Mega Ampharos's Electric typing means that it cannot be paralyzed, allowing it to bypass Prankster Thunder Wave from Thundurus and Klefki. Finally, as a Special Sweeper, Mega Ampharos is not crippled by Will-O-Wisp, and can comfortably set up an Agility on pokemon like Rotom-W.
Good teammates: Mega Ampharos can be used with or without Drizzle support. Mega Ampharos can be used effectively on weatherless teams, but needs team support to ensure that it's not functioning as a less powerful Mega Charizard-Y/Gardevoir/Heracross/Medicham. All of the aforementioned Mega Pokemon have trouble with Thundurus and Talonflame, two pokemon who Mega Ampharos comfortably beats, and this allows teams to run pokemon like Keldeo and Breloom without doubling up on type weaknesses. Mega Ampharos is also a very good receiver of Baton Pass boosts, and has great type synergy with Togekiss, who can pass a Nasty Plot boost.
On a Rain team, Mega Ampharos helps cover the Electric and Grass weaknesses that are shared by several pokemon on most Rain teams, and can run Thunder over Thunderbolt for some added power. Politoed is a mandatory member of Rain teams, and Rain also provides an opportunity for a Swift Swim user or users, most commonly Kabutops or Kingdra to unleash their boosted attacks. Mega Ampharos also helps cover Tornadus-T's Electric weakness, and Ferrothorn's Fire weakness, both of which can also help to wear down the opponent for a late game Mega Ampharos sweep.
What Counters it: Despite having 165 Special Attack, Mega Ampharos is slightly hindered by the relatively low base power of its STABs, and will never be able to sweep through a healthy team. The most common Choice Scarf users in OU have Ground typing, and all of these can outspeed and OHKO Mega Ampharos with Earthquake. Mega Aerodactyl and Noivern both outspeed +2 Mega Ampharos, and can threaten it with a super effective move. Mega Ampharos also has difficulties bypassing Assault Vest users, and Chansey, the bane of all Special Attackers.
Any Additional Info: Although it's almost always best to Mega Evolve Ampharos immediately, prior to Mega Evolving, Ampharos has a slightly higher base speed then Mega Ampharos, as well as fewer weaknesses. +2 Ampharos reaches 418 speed, placing it above Noivern, Mega Manectric, Adamant Mega Aerodactyl, and Modest Mega Alakazam. On the turn of Mega Evolution, Mega Ampharos keeps the slightly higher base speed but gains the additional power of its Mega form, so if you absolutely need to outspeed one of these pokemon and have enough bulk to setup without the Mega form, then you can set up the Agility before Mega Evolving.
What to Use:
Ampharos @ Ampharosite
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Agility
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Role: Special Sweeper / Late-Game Cleaner
What it Does: Despite Mega Ampharos only having 45 base speed, with 252 speed EVs and a Modest nature, it reaches 378 speed after an Agility, just outpacing Timid Greninja's 377 base speed. Talonflame, who Mega Ampharos easily beats 1v1, is the only pokemon that is OU by usage who outspeeds Mega Ampharos. Mega Ampharos has a good defensive typing, allowing it to set up an Agility against many pokemon in the tier, and then proceed to wreak havoc on the opponent with its high 165 Special Attack.
Mega Ampharos gets great coverage with its STABs, which take up the second and third slots. Thunder is its' strongest STAB, but the low accuracy outside of rain makes Thunderbolt the best choice for a weatherless team. Mega Ampharos lacks Draco Meteor, so Dragon Pulse is the only choice for a secondary STAB. Focus Blast is the best option for the final slot, as it hits common pokemon like Tyranitar, Ferrothorn and Excadrill, who can otherwise shrug off Electric and Dragon type moves. The only pokemon who currently resists all three of these moves is Whimsicott, who is very rare in OU. Mega Ampharos gains Mold Breaker upon Mega Evolving, which has a few uses, chiefly breaking through Skarmory's Sturdy and Dragonite's Multiscale.
Although Agility, Rock Polish, Automize and Tailwing are fairly widely distributed, Mega Ampharos is one of the few pokemon who can effectively run a setup sweeper set using one of these moves. Firstly, Mega Ampharos has a great defensive typing, providing it with a resistance to Talonflame's Brave Bird, Bullet Punch and Aqua Jet, and only leaving it vulnerable to Ice Shard (which it easily has enough bulk to survive) making it difficult to revenge kill. Secondly, Mega Ampharos's Electric typing means that it cannot be paralyzed, allowing it to bypass Prankster Thunder Wave from Thundurus and Klefki. Finally, as a Special Sweeper, Mega Ampharos is not crippled by Will-O-Wisp, and can comfortably set up an Agility on pokemon like Rotom-W.
Good teammates: Mega Ampharos can be used with or without Drizzle support. Mega Ampharos can be used effectively on weatherless teams, but needs team support to ensure that it's not functioning as a less powerful Mega Charizard-Y/Gardevoir/Heracross/Medicham. All of the aforementioned Mega Pokemon have trouble with Thundurus and Talonflame, two pokemon who Mega Ampharos comfortably beats, and this allows teams to run pokemon like Keldeo and Breloom without doubling up on type weaknesses. Mega Ampharos is also a very good receiver of Baton Pass boosts, and has great type synergy with Togekiss, who can pass a Nasty Plot boost.
On a Rain team, Mega Ampharos helps cover the Electric and Grass weaknesses that are shared by several pokemon on most Rain teams, and can run Thunder over Thunderbolt for some added power. Politoed is a mandatory member of Rain teams, and Rain also provides an opportunity for a Swift Swim user or users, most commonly Kabutops or Kingdra to unleash their boosted attacks. Mega Ampharos also helps cover Tornadus-T's Electric weakness, and Ferrothorn's Fire weakness, both of which can also help to wear down the opponent for a late game Mega Ampharos sweep.
What Counters it: Despite having 165 Special Attack, Mega Ampharos is slightly hindered by the relatively low base power of its STABs, and will never be able to sweep through a healthy team. The most common Choice Scarf users in OU have Ground typing, and all of these can outspeed and OHKO Mega Ampharos with Earthquake. Mega Aerodactyl and Noivern both outspeed +2 Mega Ampharos, and can threaten it with a super effective move. Mega Ampharos also has difficulties bypassing Assault Vest users, and Chansey, the bane of all Special Attackers.
Any Additional Info: Although it's almost always best to Mega Evolve Ampharos immediately, prior to Mega Evolving, Ampharos has a slightly higher base speed then Mega Ampharos, as well as fewer weaknesses. +2 Ampharos reaches 418 speed, placing it above Noivern, Mega Manectric, Adamant Mega Aerodactyl, and Modest Mega Alakazam. On the turn of Mega Evolution, Mega Ampharos keeps the slightly higher base speed but gains the additional power of its Mega form, so if you absolutely need to outspeed one of these pokemon and have enough bulk to setup without the Mega form, then you can set up the Agility before Mega Evolving.
By McBeengs
Role: Wallbreaker
Heracross-Mega (M) @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile/ Substitute
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance / Bullet Seed / Substitute
What it does: Being the holder of the 2° biggest attack stat of any Pokémon, Mega Heracross quite literally destroys everything in front of him, can come in several times in a battle with the proper support and still has an very nice bulk to patch reasonable strong, non-STAB moves. Most of its hard counters are handled easily with his awesome coverage, like Azumarill, who can come into his Hera's STAB , but still takes a ton of damage from Bullet Seed and Rock Blast., it should also be noted that a +2 Pin Missile will always ohko a 252/0 Azumarill if Stealth Rocks are on the field.
Mega Heracross low base Speed stat and therefore reliance on the others teammates does hold it back a bit, but with such 185 base Attack stat is nothing to be underestimated, and is definitely worth consideration on your team.
Good teammates: While Mega Heracross can easily sweep a whole team by itself after he's sufficiently weakened, he certanly appreciates some support of things that can patch his complete lack of speed to hit Flying types on an 1x1 situation. Some of his best parters includes all of the checks/counters that can deal with most of the omnipotent forces in Flying Spawn, being Talonflame and Mega Pinsir the primarily responsibles... With that in mind, Scarf Heatran is a fantastic partner to Heracross, since he not only can put an end to Talonflame and check Mega Pinsir, but also has an really good synergy with Heracross, being able to switch into Flying, Psychic, Fairy and Fire moves, white Heracross can come on Ground and Fighting almost all the match. Zapdos is also another interesting possibility, since him isn't just an really hard counter to Mega Pinsir, but to Flying Spam pokes in general... Also, Defog allows Heracross to switch with more freely and constantly than he could without SR and Spikes on the field. Pokémon that can come on certain walls that Mega Heracross struggle to reliability 2HKOes, like Skarmory or Gliscor are also welcome; Thundurus is the best choice on that case, since he can kill both with ease using Thunderbolt and HP Ice. And finally, while 80/115/105 defenses isn't what you 'd call bad, Mega Heracross is a Pokémon that tends to be burned very easily after mega evolving... If you aren't using Substitute in the last moveslot, it is recomended the attachment of an dedicate Status Absorver or Cleric, with ChestoRest Rotom-W being the best partner to it.
What counters it: Anyone that already uses Mega Heracross would laugh at your face, since "counter" is an really strong word to pair with him. Despite being impossible to properly wall, there's still some things that he can't automatically 2HKO, like Gliscor, Skarmory and Landorus-T (all with maximum HP and Defense investiment). Pokémon that function as an sweeper and carries a really strong STAB like Mega Medicham, Mega Pinsir, Psychic Landorus-i, Mega Gardevoir, care very problematic if given the chance of setup, since despite very bulky, Mega Heracross lacks the speed to do something before being hit. As mentioned above, FlyingSpam is the worst nightmare to any team that dares to have an Heracross on it, so caution is advised.
Any additional info: With the given EV's spread above you outspeed Adamant Bisharp, while putting whats left into HP for more bulk... This is the most optimal choice to Mega Heracross, since with a very disappointing base 75 Spd, Bisharp is the only really relevant landmark to start with, however, as mentioned on the official Smogon Strategy Dex, an alternative spread with a Jolly nature and 212 Speed EVs allows Mega Heracross to outspeed Adamant Dragonite and Gyarados, but forgoing the extra bulk and power generally isn't worth it. If you are running Swords Dance over Bullet Seed, keep in mind that you will lose some of your perfect coverage to things like Azumarill, but it's nothing too relevant at the point to run an Ferrothorn on your team; Also, make sure that all of the possible checks have been killed or damaged before attempt to use it properly, because revealing SD before something like Latios hasn't gone can help the other player to be more careful next time, same goes to Substitute; However, using it allows you to bypass Toxic Gliscor and some slowers WoWspers that may try to switch into an resisted move, like (Sp.Def) Heatran and Mew.
By Fourth Inversion
What to use:
Role: Wallbreaker
Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Flying] / Icy Wind / Hidden Power [Electric]
What it does: Keldeo has a very small useable movepool, but with a high base 129 Special Attack and 108 speed, its excellent STAB combination, and signature move Secret Sword allowing it to act as a mixed attacker, it is one of the best offensive pokemon in OU. Choice Specs is the most common item for Keldeo to hold, as with the added boost in power it can be an effective wallbreaker, while also being able to sweep with its high speed in the late game.
Hydro Pump is the first Water STAB move, and is immensely powerful when backed up by Choice Specs. Secret Sword is a Special Attack, but hits on a pokemon's Special Defense. This allows Keldeo to 2HKO Chansey, with the potential for an OHKO if Stealth Rocks are up, something that even Choice Specs Psyshock Latios cannot achieve. Scald is the 3rd move, and the second Water STAB, as Keldeo has no other useable special attacks with a high base power. Hydro Pump is 37.5% more powerful than Scald, but Scald's perfect accuracy and amazing 30% burn chance make it the most reliable move to go for. Keldeo's remaining move, most commonly Hidden Power, is used to lure in some of its checks and defeat them. This 4th move is how Keldeo adapts to the metagame, and at present, there are three main options, with the first two being the most common on Choice Specs sets.
Hidden Power [Flying] is primarily used to hit Mega Venusaur on a predicted switchin, and with Stealth Rocks up, is a guaranteed 2HKO on 252 HP/0 SpD Bold Venusaur. Celebi and Amoongus will also likely be 2HKOed without some SpD investment.
Icy Wind is used over Hidden Power [Ice], as Latios and Latias would otherwise be safe switchins to Keldeo, as they resist both STABs, outspeed and can OHKO Keldeo. Icy Wind's speed drop, allows Keldeo to potentially 2HKO both pokemon if it catches them on the switch (Latias needs Stealth Rock damage to guarantee the 2HKO). Icy Wind is also useful for hitting other Dragon types, particularly Dragonite who resists Keldeo's Dual STABs.
Hidden Power [Electric] can be useful for non-Mega Gyarados and Azumarill, although this is mainly used on Choice Scarf Keldeo sets, to outspeed +1 speed Gyarados. The other Hidden Power types are currently very situational, such as Hidden Power [Bug] for Celebi, and it may be more practical to use a teammate to counter a particular pokemon rather than relying on Keldeo to do so.
Good teammates: Choice Specs Keldeo is a fairly self-supporting pokemon and can fit onto a variety of offensive and balanced teams. Mega Charizard Y + Pursuit user + Keldeo was a common core in early XY OU, as Keldeo could remove Chansey for Mega Charizard Y, and the Pursuit user could trap Latios and Latias for Keldeo. Keldeo can wallbreak for Mega Gardevoir by removing Chansey as well as Steel types. Gen 5 OU Cores such as Keldeo + Pursuit Tyranitar + Landorus (or Landorus-T) can still be effective, although Azumarill is a notable new threat to this core. Even without defense investment, Keldeo still has reasonable 91/90/90 defenses, and is one of the few pokemon that can reliably switch into all common sets of Tyranitar and Bisharp, or come in to revenge kill +2 Bisharp. Because of this, the currently popular Choice Scarf Landorus-T is also a good partner, as its Intimidate activates Bisharp's Defiant, which can place it in Sucker Punch's OHKO range.
What counters it: A lot of pokemon that naturally outspeed Keldeo also have a super-effective STAB move to hit it with, including Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Alakazam, Mega Manectric, Protean Greninja, Thundurus, Tornadus-T, Latios, Latias and Noivern. A few slower pokemon either resist both of Keldeo's STABs, and/or have enough bulk to take two attacks, including Azumarill (particularly with Assault Vest), Slowbro, Amoongus, Mega Venusaur and Alomomola, although note that Keldeo may be able to hit these pokemon super effectively with its 4th move. Talonflame can revenge kill Keldeo, although Keldeo matches up well against all other priority users. Gastrodon and Jellicent are immune to one or both of Keldeo's STABs, although both pokemon are less effective now than they were in Gen 5 OU. Suicune can set up on Keldeo if it's locked into any move other than Secret Sword, and even then, Keldeo is not able to reliably beat Suicune.
Any additional info: Scald is generally the safest move to use in the early game, as most of Keldeo's counters do not like being burnt. Don't be tempted to use a Modest nature for added power, as this leaves Keldeo outsped by +Speed natured Base 95's, so it will no longer be able to check key threats that it otherwise could have.
By McBeengs
What to use:
Medicham (M) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
- Fake Out / Substitute / Bullet Punch / Thunder Punch
Role: Wallbreaker
What it does: Brings walls to the ground begging for mercy. Anything that doesn't like having an HJK in the face will be forever injured by his Pure Powered STAB's, and if still someone dares to claim fear nothing from it will be equally destroyed by his amazing coverage. After MegaEVO, Mega Medicham gains an new incredible dangerous 100 base stat on both his speed and attack, which is further boosted by his awesome ability, Pure Power, literally doubling the number to an unbelievable 200 BS.
After Aegislash ban, Mega Medicham certainly was one of the most benefited from the dramatic shift of the metagame, followed by Mega Gardevoir / Heracross... Since then, Medicham rise will probably continuing to grow, meaning that the more popular he gets, he also will get more dangerous.
Good teammates: After Mega EVO, Mega Medicham in most cases doesn't need any help to wallbreak a threat (hell, he even doesn't need setup!), however being extremely frail often cause it headaches to safely switch, even in a resisted move... To fix that, pair him with an effective VoltTurn core can help a lot when you need switch into, let's say, an Gliscor, but you would hate being Toxic'd; To do so, ChestoRest Rotom-W can be very helpful, taking status that would otherwise cripple Medicham, gaining an huge chunk of momentum with his slow Volt Switch and countering the ever present Talonflame, who further limits MCham sweeper actions. To finish the VoltTurn core, Greninja is also another great option, since he can easily pass through the Lati@s twins, threaten Landorus-T and put a lot of pressure into any Ghost Type like Gengar.
Pairing sweepers along MCham is something that you absolutely needs to do, with him softening or even killing Physical Walls can open a big hole to dangerous Revenge Killers / Late Game Cleaners like Terrakion or Choice Band Azumarill to pass through.
Having an middling 100 BS on speed isn't bad for an wallbreaker, but if you are considering using Mega Medicham as an sweeper, he will be constantly outspeed by many other Revenge Killers; A good way to remediate this is attach something like Sticky Web Shuckle or Prankster Thunder Wave Thundurus... In both cases, slowing key threats like Mega Gardevoir or Keldeo can be the difference between win or lost in some desperate situations at the late game.
What counters it: Thanks to your sheer force being so recognized, a lot of people actually put Mega Medicham as another "Threat without Counter", just like Terrakion or Mega Heracross. While this can appear believable, ironically it just made the life who put an end to him more easy, since because when this kind of people start to make a team arround MCham, they forgot to put checks to these mentioned counters. Knowing that, Slowbro is the best candidate to wall Mega Medicham, since Slowbro will easily eat all of your moves, taking laughabledamange from HJK and 3HKOing with Scald, while having the chance of fishing a burn; And if you tell me Thunder Punch:
252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 184-218 (46.7 - 55.3%) -- 14.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
...In the meantime, Slowbro can easily switch back, restoring an good amount of HP with Regenerator and still give MM the middle finger. Thanks to its pure Psychic Type, Mew is another great shot at Cham, holding him relatively well to an stallbreaker, since he can either force Medicham out, or he can burn it with WoW, making Pure Power worthless... And since I speak about Psychic Types: Most of then can be considered an check / counter in potential, like Victini or Latias
Another possibility of quickly kill Mega Medicham are using very fast Revenge Killers, especially when they have powerfull priority into their movesets... In this category: CB BB Talonflame, Aqua Jet Azumarill are all dangerous, and if Medicham already has taken some damange, LO Sucker Punch Bisharp will also easily take it out
And finally, any Ghost Type that outspeeds Mega Medicham can limit their moveset into just 3 attacks since the risk of taking recoil from HJK into an predicted switch is gonna be so high that you will need to be 2x more careful as usual, making special mentions to Sableye. Equipped with Prankster WoW, Sableye can come anytime into both of MCham STABs, burn him and restore all the collateral damage with Recover, all at 0 cost.
Any Additional Info: If you are using Mega Medicham as an sweeper rather than an wallbreaker, Drain Punch can be used into the 1°st moveslot to minimize predictions and also being an passive way of restoring HP, however sacrifice Power by stability isn't recommended into an pure wallbreaker set, especially with MCham's strongest STAB. On the other hand, using Bullet Punch into an Physical Sweeper set is more recommended to use instead of Fake Out, since after used in the first turn, it becomes an dead slot... But again, into an WB set, the broken saches and cheap damande that FO provides can be pretty neat.
By silver97
What to use:
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
role: wallbreaker or physical sweeper
what it does: basically it wrecks things. crawdaunt is one of the most fearsome pokemon in the metagame, boasting solid base 120 atk further improved by life orb boost and one of the strongest ability of the game: adaptability. this trait gives crawdaunt the strongest knock off of the meta and makes it able to not only get rid of annoying items but also hit like a truck in the process; the other STAB move, crabhammer, is ridicoulously strong, with adaptability and LO boosts it reaches an amazing 260 power. These two moves together make crawdaunt very scary to switch in even for those pokemon who resist its moves, in fact crawdaunt usually doesn't run coverage moves because even if the coverage with its STABs is not the best there is really nothing that can switch on it for free. Swords dance is used to take advantage of free turns to gain more power, although it is usually very difficult to setup, but if it manages to do it the opponent will have a hard time at stopping it. Aqua jet is a powerful priority that helps a lot with faster pokemon and makes crawdaunt good at cleaning in late game with weakened pokemon.
Anyway it has some flaws; this thing is way too frail and slow to use its positive traits at best, so it needs a lot of support from its teammates but if used in the right way crawdaunt will help a lot at beating the opposing team. it is used effectively mainly on hyper offensive or balanced teams. In the first case it helps the teammates by opening holes in the opposing team for another sweeper to clean or can take advantage of its teammates' job to sweep itself; in the second case it can benefit of more bulky teammates support that can help it coming in safely with slow volt-turn to fire off its strong attacks. crawdaunt perfoms at his best vs stall because with speed investment it can outspeed nearly every defensive pokemon but some like mew or gliscor (that are anyway threatened by craw) and with a swords dance boost becomes nearly impossible for defensive mons to stop it.
here some calcs:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 343-404 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 322-382 (96.4 - 114.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 385-458 (97.7 - 116.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
what counters it: nothing lol. using the word counter with this thing is almost always not correct, the only real counter is probably chesnaught and mega gyarados can use it as a setup fodder. other things that can switch into resisted moves more or less safely are keldeo, azumarill, mega venusaur and ferrothorn. but then there are a long list of faster offensive threats that can resist an aqua jet and retaliate with powerful attacks that will often KO it; some of them are fast electric types (thundy, raikou, m-manectric, scarfzone), latwins, birdspam that always carries powerful priority moves, kyu-b and many others.
good teammates: a poke that synergizes well with crawdaunt is mega venusaur, especially when it runs hp fire, it can counter/check all the pokemon listed before as pokemon that give craw troubles. Other pokemon that perform well with it are pokemon with similar traits like diggersby and mega pinsir that can help in HO teams to overwhelm the opponent with hard hits.
Any additional info: i found this pokemon to be one of the most fun to use alongside other hard hitters like diggersby, use it carefully and you won't regret having it on the team. there are some other option to use crawdaunt, like a band set that runs crunch to hit harder megas or superpower to hit mega gyarados or ferro, but it is overall inferior to LO imo. also you can run adamant but i think jolly is better because it outspeeds some relevant pokemon like lando-t without investment and rotom-w.
Role: Wallbreaker
Heracross-Mega (M) @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile/ Substitute
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance / Bullet Seed / Substitute
What it does: Being the holder of the 2° biggest attack stat of any Pokémon, Mega Heracross quite literally destroys everything in front of him, can come in several times in a battle with the proper support and still has an very nice bulk to patch reasonable strong, non-STAB moves. Most of its hard counters are handled easily with his awesome coverage, like Azumarill, who can come into his Hera's STAB , but still takes a ton of damage from Bullet Seed and Rock Blast., it should also be noted that a +2 Pin Missile will always ohko a 252/0 Azumarill if Stealth Rocks are on the field.
Mega Heracross low base Speed stat and therefore reliance on the others teammates does hold it back a bit, but with such 185 base Attack stat is nothing to be underestimated, and is definitely worth consideration on your team.
Good teammates: While Mega Heracross can easily sweep a whole team by itself after he's sufficiently weakened, he certanly appreciates some support of things that can patch his complete lack of speed to hit Flying types on an 1x1 situation. Some of his best parters includes all of the checks/counters that can deal with most of the omnipotent forces in Flying Spawn, being Talonflame and Mega Pinsir the primarily responsibles... With that in mind, Scarf Heatran is a fantastic partner to Heracross, since he not only can put an end to Talonflame and check Mega Pinsir, but also has an really good synergy with Heracross, being able to switch into Flying, Psychic, Fairy and Fire moves, white Heracross can come on Ground and Fighting almost all the match. Zapdos is also another interesting possibility, since him isn't just an really hard counter to Mega Pinsir, but to Flying Spam pokes in general... Also, Defog allows Heracross to switch with more freely and constantly than he could without SR and Spikes on the field. Pokémon that can come on certain walls that Mega Heracross struggle to reliability 2HKOes, like Skarmory or Gliscor are also welcome; Thundurus is the best choice on that case, since he can kill both with ease using Thunderbolt and HP Ice. And finally, while 80/115/105 defenses isn't what you 'd call bad, Mega Heracross is a Pokémon that tends to be burned very easily after mega evolving... If you aren't using Substitute in the last moveslot, it is recomended the attachment of an dedicate Status Absorver or Cleric, with ChestoRest Rotom-W being the best partner to it.
What counters it: Anyone that already uses Mega Heracross would laugh at your face, since "counter" is an really strong word to pair with him. Despite being impossible to properly wall, there's still some things that he can't automatically 2HKO, like Gliscor, Skarmory and Landorus-T (all with maximum HP and Defense investiment). Pokémon that function as an sweeper and carries a really strong STAB like Mega Medicham, Mega Pinsir, Psychic Landorus-i, Mega Gardevoir, care very problematic if given the chance of setup, since despite very bulky, Mega Heracross lacks the speed to do something before being hit. As mentioned above, FlyingSpam is the worst nightmare to any team that dares to have an Heracross on it, so caution is advised.
Any additional info: With the given EV's spread above you outspeed Adamant Bisharp, while putting whats left into HP for more bulk... This is the most optimal choice to Mega Heracross, since with a very disappointing base 75 Spd, Bisharp is the only really relevant landmark to start with, however, as mentioned on the official Smogon Strategy Dex, an alternative spread with a Jolly nature and 212 Speed EVs allows Mega Heracross to outspeed Adamant Dragonite and Gyarados, but forgoing the extra bulk and power generally isn't worth it. If you are running Swords Dance over Bullet Seed, keep in mind that you will lose some of your perfect coverage to things like Azumarill, but it's nothing too relevant at the point to run an Ferrothorn on your team; Also, make sure that all of the possible checks have been killed or damaged before attempt to use it properly, because revealing SD before something like Latios hasn't gone can help the other player to be more careful next time, same goes to Substitute; However, using it allows you to bypass Toxic Gliscor and some slowers WoWspers that may try to switch into an resisted move, like (Sp.Def) Heatran and Mew.
By Fourth Inversion
What to use:
Role: Wallbreaker
Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Flying] / Icy Wind / Hidden Power [Electric]
What it does: Keldeo has a very small useable movepool, but with a high base 129 Special Attack and 108 speed, its excellent STAB combination, and signature move Secret Sword allowing it to act as a mixed attacker, it is one of the best offensive pokemon in OU. Choice Specs is the most common item for Keldeo to hold, as with the added boost in power it can be an effective wallbreaker, while also being able to sweep with its high speed in the late game.
Hydro Pump is the first Water STAB move, and is immensely powerful when backed up by Choice Specs. Secret Sword is a Special Attack, but hits on a pokemon's Special Defense. This allows Keldeo to 2HKO Chansey, with the potential for an OHKO if Stealth Rocks are up, something that even Choice Specs Psyshock Latios cannot achieve. Scald is the 3rd move, and the second Water STAB, as Keldeo has no other useable special attacks with a high base power. Hydro Pump is 37.5% more powerful than Scald, but Scald's perfect accuracy and amazing 30% burn chance make it the most reliable move to go for. Keldeo's remaining move, most commonly Hidden Power, is used to lure in some of its checks and defeat them. This 4th move is how Keldeo adapts to the metagame, and at present, there are three main options, with the first two being the most common on Choice Specs sets.
Hidden Power [Flying] is primarily used to hit Mega Venusaur on a predicted switchin, and with Stealth Rocks up, is a guaranteed 2HKO on 252 HP/0 SpD Bold Venusaur. Celebi and Amoongus will also likely be 2HKOed without some SpD investment.
Icy Wind is used over Hidden Power [Ice], as Latios and Latias would otherwise be safe switchins to Keldeo, as they resist both STABs, outspeed and can OHKO Keldeo. Icy Wind's speed drop, allows Keldeo to potentially 2HKO both pokemon if it catches them on the switch (Latias needs Stealth Rock damage to guarantee the 2HKO). Icy Wind is also useful for hitting other Dragon types, particularly Dragonite who resists Keldeo's Dual STABs.
Hidden Power [Electric] can be useful for non-Mega Gyarados and Azumarill, although this is mainly used on Choice Scarf Keldeo sets, to outspeed +1 speed Gyarados. The other Hidden Power types are currently very situational, such as Hidden Power [Bug] for Celebi, and it may be more practical to use a teammate to counter a particular pokemon rather than relying on Keldeo to do so.
Good teammates: Choice Specs Keldeo is a fairly self-supporting pokemon and can fit onto a variety of offensive and balanced teams. Mega Charizard Y + Pursuit user + Keldeo was a common core in early XY OU, as Keldeo could remove Chansey for Mega Charizard Y, and the Pursuit user could trap Latios and Latias for Keldeo. Keldeo can wallbreak for Mega Gardevoir by removing Chansey as well as Steel types. Gen 5 OU Cores such as Keldeo + Pursuit Tyranitar + Landorus (or Landorus-T) can still be effective, although Azumarill is a notable new threat to this core. Even without defense investment, Keldeo still has reasonable 91/90/90 defenses, and is one of the few pokemon that can reliably switch into all common sets of Tyranitar and Bisharp, or come in to revenge kill +2 Bisharp. Because of this, the currently popular Choice Scarf Landorus-T is also a good partner, as its Intimidate activates Bisharp's Defiant, which can place it in Sucker Punch's OHKO range.
What counters it: A lot of pokemon that naturally outspeed Keldeo also have a super-effective STAB move to hit it with, including Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Alakazam, Mega Manectric, Protean Greninja, Thundurus, Tornadus-T, Latios, Latias and Noivern. A few slower pokemon either resist both of Keldeo's STABs, and/or have enough bulk to take two attacks, including Azumarill (particularly with Assault Vest), Slowbro, Amoongus, Mega Venusaur and Alomomola, although note that Keldeo may be able to hit these pokemon super effectively with its 4th move. Talonflame can revenge kill Keldeo, although Keldeo matches up well against all other priority users. Gastrodon and Jellicent are immune to one or both of Keldeo's STABs, although both pokemon are less effective now than they were in Gen 5 OU. Suicune can set up on Keldeo if it's locked into any move other than Secret Sword, and even then, Keldeo is not able to reliably beat Suicune.
Any additional info: Scald is generally the safest move to use in the early game, as most of Keldeo's counters do not like being burnt. Don't be tempted to use a Modest nature for added power, as this leaves Keldeo outsped by +Speed natured Base 95's, so it will no longer be able to check key threats that it otherwise could have.
By McBeengs
What to use:
Medicham (M) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
- Fake Out / Substitute / Bullet Punch / Thunder Punch
Role: Wallbreaker
What it does: Brings walls to the ground begging for mercy. Anything that doesn't like having an HJK in the face will be forever injured by his Pure Powered STAB's, and if still someone dares to claim fear nothing from it will be equally destroyed by his amazing coverage. After MegaEVO, Mega Medicham gains an new incredible dangerous 100 base stat on both his speed and attack, which is further boosted by his awesome ability, Pure Power, literally doubling the number to an unbelievable 200 BS.
After Aegislash ban, Mega Medicham certainly was one of the most benefited from the dramatic shift of the metagame, followed by Mega Gardevoir / Heracross... Since then, Medicham rise will probably continuing to grow, meaning that the more popular he gets, he also will get more dangerous.
Good teammates: After Mega EVO, Mega Medicham in most cases doesn't need any help to wallbreak a threat (hell, he even doesn't need setup!), however being extremely frail often cause it headaches to safely switch, even in a resisted move... To fix that, pair him with an effective VoltTurn core can help a lot when you need switch into, let's say, an Gliscor, but you would hate being Toxic'd; To do so, ChestoRest Rotom-W can be very helpful, taking status that would otherwise cripple Medicham, gaining an huge chunk of momentum with his slow Volt Switch and countering the ever present Talonflame, who further limits MCham sweeper actions. To finish the VoltTurn core, Greninja is also another great option, since he can easily pass through the Lati@s twins, threaten Landorus-T and put a lot of pressure into any Ghost Type like Gengar.
Pairing sweepers along MCham is something that you absolutely needs to do, with him softening or even killing Physical Walls can open a big hole to dangerous Revenge Killers / Late Game Cleaners like Terrakion or Choice Band Azumarill to pass through.
Having an middling 100 BS on speed isn't bad for an wallbreaker, but if you are considering using Mega Medicham as an sweeper, he will be constantly outspeed by many other Revenge Killers; A good way to remediate this is attach something like Sticky Web Shuckle or Prankster Thunder Wave Thundurus... In both cases, slowing key threats like Mega Gardevoir or Keldeo can be the difference between win or lost in some desperate situations at the late game.
What counters it: Thanks to your sheer force being so recognized, a lot of people actually put Mega Medicham as another "Threat without Counter", just like Terrakion or Mega Heracross. While this can appear believable, ironically it just made the life who put an end to him more easy, since because when this kind of people start to make a team arround MCham, they forgot to put checks to these mentioned counters. Knowing that, Slowbro is the best candidate to wall Mega Medicham, since Slowbro will easily eat all of your moves, taking laughabledamange from HJK and 3HKOing with Scald, while having the chance of fishing a burn; And if you tell me Thunder Punch:
252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 184-218 (46.7 - 55.3%) -- 14.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
...In the meantime, Slowbro can easily switch back, restoring an good amount of HP with Regenerator and still give MM the middle finger. Thanks to its pure Psychic Type, Mew is another great shot at Cham, holding him relatively well to an stallbreaker, since he can either force Medicham out, or he can burn it with WoW, making Pure Power worthless... And since I speak about Psychic Types: Most of then can be considered an check / counter in potential, like Victini or Latias
Another possibility of quickly kill Mega Medicham are using very fast Revenge Killers, especially when they have powerfull priority into their movesets... In this category: CB BB Talonflame, Aqua Jet Azumarill are all dangerous, and if Medicham already has taken some damange, LO Sucker Punch Bisharp will also easily take it out
And finally, any Ghost Type that outspeeds Mega Medicham can limit their moveset into just 3 attacks since the risk of taking recoil from HJK into an predicted switch is gonna be so high that you will need to be 2x more careful as usual, making special mentions to Sableye. Equipped with Prankster WoW, Sableye can come anytime into both of MCham STABs, burn him and restore all the collateral damage with Recover, all at 0 cost.
Any Additional Info: If you are using Mega Medicham as an sweeper rather than an wallbreaker, Drain Punch can be used into the 1°st moveslot to minimize predictions and also being an passive way of restoring HP, however sacrifice Power by stability isn't recommended into an pure wallbreaker set, especially with MCham's strongest STAB. On the other hand, using Bullet Punch into an Physical Sweeper set is more recommended to use instead of Fake Out, since after used in the first turn, it becomes an dead slot... But again, into an WB set, the broken saches and cheap damande that FO provides can be pretty neat.
By silver97
What to use:
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
role: wallbreaker or physical sweeper
what it does: basically it wrecks things. crawdaunt is one of the most fearsome pokemon in the metagame, boasting solid base 120 atk further improved by life orb boost and one of the strongest ability of the game: adaptability. this trait gives crawdaunt the strongest knock off of the meta and makes it able to not only get rid of annoying items but also hit like a truck in the process; the other STAB move, crabhammer, is ridicoulously strong, with adaptability and LO boosts it reaches an amazing 260 power. These two moves together make crawdaunt very scary to switch in even for those pokemon who resist its moves, in fact crawdaunt usually doesn't run coverage moves because even if the coverage with its STABs is not the best there is really nothing that can switch on it for free. Swords dance is used to take advantage of free turns to gain more power, although it is usually very difficult to setup, but if it manages to do it the opponent will have a hard time at stopping it. Aqua jet is a powerful priority that helps a lot with faster pokemon and makes crawdaunt good at cleaning in late game with weakened pokemon.
Anyway it has some flaws; this thing is way too frail and slow to use its positive traits at best, so it needs a lot of support from its teammates but if used in the right way crawdaunt will help a lot at beating the opposing team. it is used effectively mainly on hyper offensive or balanced teams. In the first case it helps the teammates by opening holes in the opposing team for another sweeper to clean or can take advantage of its teammates' job to sweep itself; in the second case it can benefit of more bulky teammates support that can help it coming in safely with slow volt-turn to fire off its strong attacks. crawdaunt perfoms at his best vs stall because with speed investment it can outspeed nearly every defensive pokemon but some like mew or gliscor (that are anyway threatened by craw) and with a swords dance boost becomes nearly impossible for defensive mons to stop it.
here some calcs:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 343-404 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 322-382 (96.4 - 114.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 385-458 (97.7 - 116.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
what counters it: nothing lol. using the word counter with this thing is almost always not correct, the only real counter is probably chesnaught and mega gyarados can use it as a setup fodder. other things that can switch into resisted moves more or less safely are keldeo, azumarill, mega venusaur and ferrothorn. but then there are a long list of faster offensive threats that can resist an aqua jet and retaliate with powerful attacks that will often KO it; some of them are fast electric types (thundy, raikou, m-manectric, scarfzone), latwins, birdspam that always carries powerful priority moves, kyu-b and many others.
good teammates: a poke that synergizes well with crawdaunt is mega venusaur, especially when it runs hp fire, it can counter/check all the pokemon listed before as pokemon that give craw troubles. Other pokemon that perform well with it are pokemon with similar traits like diggersby and mega pinsir that can help in HO teams to overwhelm the opponent with hard hits.
Any additional info: i found this pokemon to be one of the most fun to use alongside other hard hitters like diggersby, use it carefully and you won't regret having it on the team. there are some other option to use crawdaunt, like a band set that runs crunch to hit harder megas or superpower to hit mega gyarados or ferro, but it is overall inferior to LO imo. also you can run adamant but i think jolly is better because it outspeeds some relevant pokemon like lando-t without investment and rotom-w.
by Albacore
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 96 SpD / 160 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Knock Off / Night Shade
- Roost
Role: Stalbreaker
What It Does: Arguably one of the best stallbreakers in the tier, Mew is great at harassing all kinds of Pokemon thanks to its great movepool of infuriating utility moves. Mew is basically guaranteed to beat any defensive Pokemon one-on-one as ling as they are not a fire type or a faster taunter. It's very simple to use: most of the time, it pits itself against a defensive Pokemon, Taunts it, and slowly wears it down with a combination of burn and Knock Off. Its good natural bulk means that it is almost impossible for something without any offensive investment to 2HKO it, and therefore, it can be a living nightmare for teams which don't have a hard-hitter. But what sets Mew apart from most other stallbreakers is how much work it puts in against offensive teams too. Few things on offense like getting burnt or knocked off, and furthermore, Mew's bulk lets it take hits from the likes of Mega-Medicham, Terrakion, and Thundurus. Its good natural speed enables it to outpace a few threats such as Bisharp, Mega-Gyarados, Mega Tyranitar, Mega-Heracross, and Excadrill outside of Sand. Mew can usually afford to sacrifice quite a bit of SpD investment for Speed, since it's naturally bulky enough to do what it needs to do on its own. Knock Off is the most useful offensive move for Mew in general thanks to the utility it provides, but Night Shade is a good option to get past Megas such as MVenu more easily, as well as other defensive Pokemon like Heatran and Gliscor.
Good Teammates: Mew should be paried up with something that can deal with the Zards and Talonflame, such as Landorus-T or Slowbro. Besides that, Mew needs little to no support to do its job.
What Counters It: Fire types do very well against Mew since they cannot be burnt. In particular, neither Charizard fears anything from it. Anything faster that is powerful enough to 2HKO even without their item can deal with Mew, particularly special attackers who don't care much about the effects of burn. Poison heal Pokemon, as well as Regenerator cores, can force Mew to wate its PP by switching round and regaining health back while they do so.
Any Additional Info: Mew is better used early on in the match, in order to heavily cripple Pokemon initially so that more offensive partners can break through the team much more easily. It can also carry Stealth Rocks or Defog, but if it does so, it loses out on a lot of its stallbreaking capabilities.
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 96 SpD / 160 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Knock Off / Night Shade
- Roost
Role: Stalbreaker
What It Does: Arguably one of the best stallbreakers in the tier, Mew is great at harassing all kinds of Pokemon thanks to its great movepool of infuriating utility moves. Mew is basically guaranteed to beat any defensive Pokemon one-on-one as ling as they are not a fire type or a faster taunter. It's very simple to use: most of the time, it pits itself against a defensive Pokemon, Taunts it, and slowly wears it down with a combination of burn and Knock Off. Its good natural bulk means that it is almost impossible for something without any offensive investment to 2HKO it, and therefore, it can be a living nightmare for teams which don't have a hard-hitter. But what sets Mew apart from most other stallbreakers is how much work it puts in against offensive teams too. Few things on offense like getting burnt or knocked off, and furthermore, Mew's bulk lets it take hits from the likes of Mega-Medicham, Terrakion, and Thundurus. Its good natural speed enables it to outpace a few threats such as Bisharp, Mega-Gyarados, Mega Tyranitar, Mega-Heracross, and Excadrill outside of Sand. Mew can usually afford to sacrifice quite a bit of SpD investment for Speed, since it's naturally bulky enough to do what it needs to do on its own. Knock Off is the most useful offensive move for Mew in general thanks to the utility it provides, but Night Shade is a good option to get past Megas such as MVenu more easily, as well as other defensive Pokemon like Heatran and Gliscor.
Good Teammates: Mew should be paried up with something that can deal with the Zards and Talonflame, such as Landorus-T or Slowbro. Besides that, Mew needs little to no support to do its job.
What Counters It: Fire types do very well against Mew since they cannot be burnt. In particular, neither Charizard fears anything from it. Anything faster that is powerful enough to 2HKO even without their item can deal with Mew, particularly special attackers who don't care much about the effects of burn. Poison heal Pokemon, as well as Regenerator cores, can force Mew to wate its PP by switching round and regaining health back while they do so.
Any Additional Info: Mew is better used early on in the match, in order to heavily cripple Pokemon initially so that more offensive partners can break through the team much more easily. It can also carry Stealth Rocks or Defog, but if it does so, it loses out on a lot of its stallbreaking capabilities.
By Fourth Inversion
What to use.
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Sleep Talk / Tailwind / Steel Wing
Role: Revenge Killer
What it does: Talonflame's access to a priority STAB Base 120 Power move makes it a strong centralising force in OU, and this set is the simplest way to take advantage of Talonflame's priority, by equipping it with a Choice Band. Talonflame has three main offensive sets, Swords Dance, Bulk Up, and this, the Choice Banded set, along with rarer utility sets which forgo a boosting move or item. Although Choice Band is the least flexible of the sets, it is also the safest to use, due to the sheer amount of power it provides, combined with the difficulty that other Talonflame sets can face in setting up against some teams.
Brave Bird is the first, and main move on the set, and is extremely spammable, as the only 4x Flying resist commonly seen in OU, Magnezone is weak to Fire. Flare Blitz is the secondary STAB, and ensures that no Steel types other than Heatran can wall Talonflame. U-Turn is mostly used in the early game, and makes Talonflame an effective pivot if Stealth Rocks are not up. The 4th move will not come into play in most games, but there are a few possibilities that may have a niche. Sleep Talk allows Talonflame to switch into a predicted Sleep move, primarily from a Grass type pokemon. However, the most common user of Sleep status in OU, Breloom, commonly carries Rock Tomb, which Breloom will also often use on a predicted switch, making this an extremely risky possibility. Talonflame has access to priority Tailwind, although it may often be better to Brave Bird instead, as if the opponent chooses not to KO Talonflame, then you've given them a free turn. Steel Wing is a very niche choice, but it hits the rare Diancie super-effectively, and importantly, also lacks recoil, making it a passable emergency option if Talonflame is low on health.
This is the standard and simplest EV spread, with maximum attack and speed, and the last 4 EVs in Defense, for an odd number of HP, allowing Talonflame to switch into Stealth Rocks twice. It's possible to move some EVs from Speed into HP to give Talonflame a bit more longevity, at the cost of leaving you outsped by faster opposing Talonflames. A Jolly nature loses a noticeable amount of power, and is more commonly seen on Swords Dance Talonflame, but can be used on Banded Talonflame for outspeeding opposing Adamant Talonflames and Flare Blitzing Thundurus.
Good teammates: Choice Banded Talonflame is best suited for offensive teams, and can fit into a number of playstyles. 'Flying spam' refers to a playstyle pairing two or more Flying type pokemon on a team, to break down their shared resistances. The most common partner in this core is Mega Pinsir, who is best used to finish off a team after Talonflame has weakened it. Talonflame is also effective on Sand teams, as the standard Tyranitar and Excadrill core is weak to Scizor, Breloom, Chesnaught and Conkeldurr, all of whom Talonflame beats. Hazard removal is mandatory when using Talonflame, and it has good type synergy with the two main Rapid Spin users in OU, Excadrill and Starmie, as well as Scizor, Latias and Latios. Latias is a particularly useful Defog user to pair with Talonflame, as Latias has access to Healing Wish, giving Talonflame another chance to wreak havoc on the opponent. Note that as Healing Wish's recovery activates before entry hazards, Talonflame can still receive the Healing Wish even if it would normally faint to Stealth Rocks. Greninja (with Hidden Power Grass for Rotom-W) can OHKO, or at worst 2HKO many of the checks to Talonflame seen in the section below, and is a good partner for Choice Banded Talonflame on hyper offense.
What counters it: Stealth Rocks are the number one check to Talonflame, and this set is one reason why they will be found on every team. Not many pokemon can check Choice Banded Talonflame, as they will always need to take two attacks in order to do so, so some teams will play around this set by sacrificing a pokemon to lock it into an attack. The main OU viable Pokemon that are commonly used to counter Talonflame include (note that this is often contingent on having a physically defensive EV spread) Rotom-W (and the rarer Rotom-H), Slowbro, Heatran, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Hippowdon, Landorus-T, Mandibuzz, Mega Ampharos and Mega Aerodactyl. Mega Manectric and Thundurus can check Talonflame, but cannot switch in directly. On Rain teams, Kabutops sometimes carries Aqua Jet which will outspeed Talonflame's Brave Bird under rain, while Excadrill can also check Talonflame is Sand is up, as it resists Brave Bird.
Any additional info: One additional reason to consider Talonflame for a team is that it can revenge kill a lot of the most popular Mega Pokemon. In the post Aegislash metagame, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham have all had a big surge in popularity, and Choice Banded Talonflame can OHKO all three of these with Brave Bird.
By TerrorDave
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 212 Atk / 44 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail / Ice Fang
- Fire Fang
Role: Physical Sweeper (cleaner) / Revenge Killer
What It Does: A great sweeper / cleaner, Mega Aero is batshit fast and this allows it to revenge kill a shit ton of the metagame, even when adamant. It is a fantastic offensive check to the likes of Keldeo, Landorus, Zard Y, Talonflame, Greninja, Mega Pinsir, Mega Heracross, Mega Medicham, Mega Gardevoir, ext. A lot of these are huge threats to offence (namely Greninja) and removing them is always handy. A lot of them are also threats to Sand Offence, a playstyle that Mega Aero fits nicely on due to the Special Defence boost it receives. It's also got pretty nice moves available to it, running things such as Aqua Tail which can be used over Ice Fang to stop Hippo from walling you, but it does allow Lando-T to avoid the OHKO. Essentially, you want Mega Aero to be revenge killing threats to your team left and right, remove whatever the opponent has walling it and clean up sweep from there.
Good Teammates: This Mega Aero set, despite being able to muscle it's way through threats like Mega Venu, actually has a fair bit of trouble with stall. As a result, a Stallbreaker such as Mew makes for an excellent parter. Mew also runs Taunt, shutting down bulky waters, which are all effective counters to this Pokemon. If that isn't enough fo you, a Crocune check or counter is another good partner. Aero also supports hazards removal such as Excadrill, who also absorbs Twave from Thundy for Mega Aero. Finally, Tyranitar sets sand for Mega Aero, giving it a very nice Spdef boost, making it another good partner. It also sets Stealth Rocks, which turns many 2HKOes into important OHKOes.
What Counters It: There are a number of counters to this Pokemon. At best, Fire Fang only 3HKOes Skarmory, meaning that the iron bird is an effective counter. Crocune also easily sets up on this thing and takes minimal damage from any of Mega Aero's attacks. In fact, practically any bulky water has an easy time with Mega Aero.
As for checks, due to Mega Aero's completely insane speed, there isn't a lot that actually checks it. However, the 3 fastest relevant scarfers (Keldeo, Terrakion and Latios) are all effective checks. Azumarill and Scizor/Mega Scizor also check it due to their powerful priority moves.
Any Additional Info: Mega Aerodactyl is best used Mid-Late game to revenge kill key offensive threats or to clean up sweep. The 44 EVs in defence allows Mega Aero to avoid the 2HKO from Adamant Talonflame's Brave Bird.
What to use.
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Sleep Talk / Tailwind / Steel Wing
Role: Revenge Killer
What it does: Talonflame's access to a priority STAB Base 120 Power move makes it a strong centralising force in OU, and this set is the simplest way to take advantage of Talonflame's priority, by equipping it with a Choice Band. Talonflame has three main offensive sets, Swords Dance, Bulk Up, and this, the Choice Banded set, along with rarer utility sets which forgo a boosting move or item. Although Choice Band is the least flexible of the sets, it is also the safest to use, due to the sheer amount of power it provides, combined with the difficulty that other Talonflame sets can face in setting up against some teams.
Brave Bird is the first, and main move on the set, and is extremely spammable, as the only 4x Flying resist commonly seen in OU, Magnezone is weak to Fire. Flare Blitz is the secondary STAB, and ensures that no Steel types other than Heatran can wall Talonflame. U-Turn is mostly used in the early game, and makes Talonflame an effective pivot if Stealth Rocks are not up. The 4th move will not come into play in most games, but there are a few possibilities that may have a niche. Sleep Talk allows Talonflame to switch into a predicted Sleep move, primarily from a Grass type pokemon. However, the most common user of Sleep status in OU, Breloom, commonly carries Rock Tomb, which Breloom will also often use on a predicted switch, making this an extremely risky possibility. Talonflame has access to priority Tailwind, although it may often be better to Brave Bird instead, as if the opponent chooses not to KO Talonflame, then you've given them a free turn. Steel Wing is a very niche choice, but it hits the rare Diancie super-effectively, and importantly, also lacks recoil, making it a passable emergency option if Talonflame is low on health.
This is the standard and simplest EV spread, with maximum attack and speed, and the last 4 EVs in Defense, for an odd number of HP, allowing Talonflame to switch into Stealth Rocks twice. It's possible to move some EVs from Speed into HP to give Talonflame a bit more longevity, at the cost of leaving you outsped by faster opposing Talonflames. A Jolly nature loses a noticeable amount of power, and is more commonly seen on Swords Dance Talonflame, but can be used on Banded Talonflame for outspeeding opposing Adamant Talonflames and Flare Blitzing Thundurus.
Good teammates: Choice Banded Talonflame is best suited for offensive teams, and can fit into a number of playstyles. 'Flying spam' refers to a playstyle pairing two or more Flying type pokemon on a team, to break down their shared resistances. The most common partner in this core is Mega Pinsir, who is best used to finish off a team after Talonflame has weakened it. Talonflame is also effective on Sand teams, as the standard Tyranitar and Excadrill core is weak to Scizor, Breloom, Chesnaught and Conkeldurr, all of whom Talonflame beats. Hazard removal is mandatory when using Talonflame, and it has good type synergy with the two main Rapid Spin users in OU, Excadrill and Starmie, as well as Scizor, Latias and Latios. Latias is a particularly useful Defog user to pair with Talonflame, as Latias has access to Healing Wish, giving Talonflame another chance to wreak havoc on the opponent. Note that as Healing Wish's recovery activates before entry hazards, Talonflame can still receive the Healing Wish even if it would normally faint to Stealth Rocks. Greninja (with Hidden Power Grass for Rotom-W) can OHKO, or at worst 2HKO many of the checks to Talonflame seen in the section below, and is a good partner for Choice Banded Talonflame on hyper offense.
What counters it: Stealth Rocks are the number one check to Talonflame, and this set is one reason why they will be found on every team. Not many pokemon can check Choice Banded Talonflame, as they will always need to take two attacks in order to do so, so some teams will play around this set by sacrificing a pokemon to lock it into an attack. The main OU viable Pokemon that are commonly used to counter Talonflame include (note that this is often contingent on having a physically defensive EV spread) Rotom-W (and the rarer Rotom-H), Slowbro, Heatran, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Hippowdon, Landorus-T, Mandibuzz, Mega Ampharos and Mega Aerodactyl. Mega Manectric and Thundurus can check Talonflame, but cannot switch in directly. On Rain teams, Kabutops sometimes carries Aqua Jet which will outspeed Talonflame's Brave Bird under rain, while Excadrill can also check Talonflame is Sand is up, as it resists Brave Bird.
Any additional info: One additional reason to consider Talonflame for a team is that it can revenge kill a lot of the most popular Mega Pokemon. In the post Aegislash metagame, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham have all had a big surge in popularity, and Choice Banded Talonflame can OHKO all three of these with Brave Bird.
By TerrorDave
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 212 Atk / 44 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail / Ice Fang
- Fire Fang
Role: Physical Sweeper (cleaner) / Revenge Killer
What It Does: A great sweeper / cleaner, Mega Aero is batshit fast and this allows it to revenge kill a shit ton of the metagame, even when adamant. It is a fantastic offensive check to the likes of Keldeo, Landorus, Zard Y, Talonflame, Greninja, Mega Pinsir, Mega Heracross, Mega Medicham, Mega Gardevoir, ext. A lot of these are huge threats to offence (namely Greninja) and removing them is always handy. A lot of them are also threats to Sand Offence, a playstyle that Mega Aero fits nicely on due to the Special Defence boost it receives. It's also got pretty nice moves available to it, running things such as Aqua Tail which can be used over Ice Fang to stop Hippo from walling you, but it does allow Lando-T to avoid the OHKO. Essentially, you want Mega Aero to be revenge killing threats to your team left and right, remove whatever the opponent has walling it and clean up sweep from there.
Good Teammates: This Mega Aero set, despite being able to muscle it's way through threats like Mega Venu, actually has a fair bit of trouble with stall. As a result, a Stallbreaker such as Mew makes for an excellent parter. Mew also runs Taunt, shutting down bulky waters, which are all effective counters to this Pokemon. If that isn't enough fo you, a Crocune check or counter is another good partner. Aero also supports hazards removal such as Excadrill, who also absorbs Twave from Thundy for Mega Aero. Finally, Tyranitar sets sand for Mega Aero, giving it a very nice Spdef boost, making it another good partner. It also sets Stealth Rocks, which turns many 2HKOes into important OHKOes.
What Counters It: There are a number of counters to this Pokemon. At best, Fire Fang only 3HKOes Skarmory, meaning that the iron bird is an effective counter. Crocune also easily sets up on this thing and takes minimal damage from any of Mega Aero's attacks. In fact, practically any bulky water has an easy time with Mega Aero.
As for checks, due to Mega Aero's completely insane speed, there isn't a lot that actually checks it. However, the 3 fastest relevant scarfers (Keldeo, Terrakion and Latios) are all effective checks. Azumarill and Scizor/Mega Scizor also check it due to their powerful priority moves.
Any Additional Info: Mega Aerodactyl is best used Mid-Late game to revenge kill key offensive threats or to clean up sweep. The 44 EVs in defence allows Mega Aero to avoid the 2HKO from Adamant Talonflame's Brave Bird.
By Fourth Inversion
What to use
Excadrill @ Life Orb / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP [if using Life Orb]
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin / Swords Dance
Role: Physical Sweeper
What it does: Excadrill's high attack stat, combined with good neutral coverage and doubled speed in sand, makes it a terrifying physical sweeper. Indeed, Excadrill was found to be so overpowered under permanent weather in 5th Generation OU that it was banned to Ubers. In 6th generation, the limited duration of weather nerfed Excadrill to the point where it was balanced within the OU tier. Sand Rush Excadrill was not very common in early XY OU, but once its effectiveness was proven, it became a very popular play style, and now, is something that every team must be prepared to face.
Excadrill has a small movepool, and outside of its STABs, has few coverage options, so there's only one standard and viable set for it to use. Earthquake is its strongest STAB, and with the introduction of the Fairy type, Iron Head is now also a very useful secondary STAB, and backed by a life, it's powerful enough to have a small chance of OHKOing max physically defensive Clefable. Additionally, the 30% flinch chance can be used in do or die situations to hax your way past potential checks. Excadrill is one of the few physical attackers who lacks access to Stone Edge, but the greater accuracy of Rock Slide is a boon for Excadrill, as the move still has enough power to achieve the required OHKOes, including Thundurus (with a Life Orb boost). The 4th slot is generally used for Rapid Spin. While it seems odd to run this move on a physical sweeper, Gengar, the only common ghost type in OU can't safely spinblock (block Rapid Spin with its Ghost Typing) against Excadrill, and Excadrill's most popular teammates are often weak to Stealth Rock. Additionally, Tyranitar or Hippowdon who set up the sand for Excadrill are also commonly used to set Stealth Rocks, and so if there's a lead matchup in which both pokemon set up Stealth Rocks, Excadrill can them come in and freely Rapid Spin them away. The other viable, but significantly less common move run in the 4th slot is Swords Dance. Swords Dance sends Excadrill's attack stat through the roof, but its frailty makes it difficult to safely set up, and the shortened duration of sand means that it may be better off just attacking. Excadrill generally doesn't run a 4th attack, as X-Scissor and Shadow Claw don't provide much useful coverage on OU's common threats. The best choice for the 4th attack in the current metagame is probably Aerial Ace, to OHKO Mega Heracross, although Rapid Spin has a lot more general utility.
The most recent usage statistics show that the majority of Excadrills run 252 speed, so it's safest to match that on the EV spread. Under sand, this will make Excadrill faster than the entire OU tier, including all the viable Choice Scarf users. Adamant nature and 252 Attack allow Excadrill to hit as hard as possible. Sand Rush Excadrill can either hold a Life Orb or an Air Balloon, with the Life Orb being slightly more common, with the immediate benefit of additional power. Air Balloon gives Excadrill a once-off ground immunity, which helps in Excadrill mirror matchups, and lets Excadrill switch in on unsuspecting pokemons using a Choice item that are locked into Earthquake, such as Scarfed Landorus-T. If Excadrill is going to use Swords Dance over Rapid Spin, then an Air Balloon can provide a potential setup opportunity. Sand Rush Excadrills ocasionally run a Jolly nature to outspeed opposing Excadrills in an Excadrill mirror matchup, but the loss of power from this is undesirable.
Good teammates: Either Tyranitar or Hippowdon are mandatory, as they fuel the sandstream for Excadrill. Tyranitar is overwhelmingly the more common choice, as it has much better offensive synergy with Excadrill. Generally Focus Sash or Smooth Rock Tyranitars are used to set Stealth Rocks, and commonly run mixed sets with Fire Blast or Ice Beam as coverage moves to hit physical walls such as Ferrothorn, Gliscor, Landorus-T, Mega Scizor and Skarmory. It's possible to run Mega-Tyranitar + Excadrill, but this will leave Excadrill with fewer turns to use Sand Rush. If Excadrill is used with Hippowdon, then Excadrill can function more like a revenge killer, as Hippowdon's access to reliable recovery makes it a more durable weather setter, that is able to set up sand at multiple points in the game. However Hippowdon lacks Tyranitar's power and versatility, as Hippowdon will generally run Ground + Rock attacks, typings that are already covered by Excadrill.
Good teammates for this two pokemon sand core should be able to help remove the pokemon that wall Excadrill. Talonflame and/or Mega Pinsir can remove Fighting type pokemon with priority attacks for both Tyranitar and Excadrill. Powerful special attackers such as Mega Charizard Y, Keldeo and Greninja can hit physical walls on their weaker, special defense. Magnezone can trap Ferrothorn, Skarmory (and to an extent, Mega Scizor), and can run HP Ice on a Choice Scarf set to hit Landorus-T and Gliscor. Rotom-W and Magnezone can also use Volt Switch to help bring Excadrill in safely.
What counters it: Priority attacks are useful for revenge killing Excadrill. Excadrill is weak to Aqua Jet and Mach Punch, so Azumarill, Breloom and Conkeldurr are fairly realible checks to it. Although Talonflame cannot Flare Blitz Excadrill under sand, it can still outspeed with Brave Bird and do a little over 50% damage. Sand Rush Excadrill needs the sand up, and so one way to counter it is by threatening the sand setter, not allowing a free switch into Excadrill, or stalling out the sand turns. This is especially effective if the weather starter is not using Smooth Rock.Physically defensive Rotom-W is a fairly reliable counter to Sand Rush Excadrill. Landorus-T, phyiscally defensive Gliscor, Chesnaught and Skarmory are all fairly safe switchins. Mega Alakazam can trace Sand Rush and outspeed Excadrill, however this can only be done if Mega Alakazam has already mega evolved. Excadrill is not quite powerful enough to break through healthy pokemon with moderate bulk that are not weak to its STABs or coverage move; for example, Keldeo takes 81.4 - 95.6% from a Life Orb Earthquake. Finally, if Mega Charizard Y has already Mega Evolved, then it can set up sun, outspeed and OHKO Excadrill with Fire Blast.
Any additional info: Excadrill can viably run either Sand Rush or Mold Breaker as its abilities, although if you see Tyranitar + Excadrill, or Hippowdon + Excadrill on the same team, then you'll almost certainly be facing Sand Rush Excadrill. If Excadrill is using Mold Breaker, then 'Excadrill breaks the mold' will be displayed when it switches in.
By Fourth Inversion
Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance / Rapid Spin
- Aqua Jet / Low Kick
Role: Physical Sweeper
What it does: Kabutops is the best, and in fact only viable physical rain sweeper and should always be considered for a spot on a rain team. Waterfall, backed by the rain boost and Life Orb hits extremely hard. The 20% flinch chance is also a useful option in do or die situations, where you need some hax to win the game. Stone Edge is the strongest option for a secondary STAB, and it complements Waterfall well, by hitting most Water resists for neutral damage. Swords Dance is the best option in the 3rd slot, as while Kabutops is already powerful without a boost, with a Swords Dance, it reaches 722 attack, which is further boosted by Life Orb and rain. Almost nothing in OU is able to live an attack at +2. Although Swords Dance is difficult to set up, if Kabutops is able to get a safe switch in on an attacker lacking a super effective move, the added power will be well worth the moveslot. Rapid Spin can be run if there are no other options for hazard removal on the team, but it's not a preferable option, as Kabutops is one of the best win conditions for rain teams, and it's more reliable to use a teammate to provide this support.
In the 4th slot, Aqua Jet seems redundant, as Kabutops will outspeed every pokemon under the rain, but as it has +1 priority, Kabutops can outspeed Gale Wings Talonflame and Prankster Thundurus. Thundurus is OHKOed at +2 attack is Stealth Rocks are up, while every Talonflame set can be OHKOed if Stealth Rocks are up, or OHKOed if Kabutops is as +2. Aqua Jet also helps make up for Kabutops' low 80 base speed outside of the rain. Low Kick is viable to break through Ferrothorn, who resists both STABs, as Ferrothorn's weight make it hit at 100 base power. At +2, and boosted by Life Orb, it will always OHKO any common EV spreads, although it will take significant damage in the process from Iron Barbs, Life Orb and possibly Rocky Helmet. However, Low Kick is the best choice if your team has no other way of inflicting heavy damage on Ferrothorn.
29 HP IVs hit a Life Orb number, and the EVs are straightforward, maximising attack and speed. Kabutops already outspeeds every pokemon under rain (other than faster opposing Swift Swimmers), so an Adamant nature can be used over a Timid nature for maximum power.
Good teammates: Damp Rock Politoed is mandatory, to set up the rain for Kabutops, and there's also the option of using a suicide lead with Rain Dance and Damp Rock such as Azelf as an initial rain setter. Kingdra is a common partner in crime, as Kabutops can remove special walls and Assault Vest users for Kingdra. If using Aqua Jet over Low Kick, Tornadus-T, Thundurus-I and Thundurus-T can run Focus Blast or Superpower to inflict major damage on Ferrothorn. Mega Scizor can use its slow U-Turn to give Kabutops a safe switch in. Mega Heracross in particular, but also Mega Gardevoir and Mega Medicham benefit from Kabutops' ability to remove their faster checks, allowing them to reliably wallbreak for Kabutops and other Swift Swim users by removing pokemon like Ferrothorn. Mega Ampharos can use Thunder over Thunderbolt, and has useful resistances, including covering the weaknesses to Grass and Electric moves. Stealth Rocks are very helpful, as Kabutops can then beat Thundurus with Aqua Jet, and if not using a suicide lead with Stealth Rocks, Ferrothorn is a great hazard setter on rain teams, as it resists Grass and Electric type moves.
What counters it: Not much can reliably counter Kabutops after a Swords Dance, although Mega Aggron can take a hit at +2 and do significant damage back with Earthquake, as can Suicune's CroCune set with Scald, while physically defensive Mega Venusaur, can also survive one +2 Stone Edge and OHKO with Giga Drain. As mentioned above, Ferrothorn easily counters sets without Low Kick. Keldeo resists Water, Rock and Fighting type moves, and can OHKO Kabutops with a move of choice, and can fire off rain boosted Scalds or Hydro Pumps afterwards. Teams with Tyranitar, Hippowdon or Mega Charizard-Y can change the weather, although none of these pokemon want to directly switch in on a rain boosted attack. Breloom comes close to OHKOing Kabutops with Mach Punch and while Azumarill, Mega Scizor, Scizor and Conkeldurr can also inflict a reasonable amount of damage, they can't come close to OHKOing Kabutops at full health. Kabutops resists Extreme Speed and Talonflame's Brave Bird, so it's quite difficult to directly revenge kill with priority moves alone. Gastrodon is rare, but a physically defensive spread can comfortably take on Kabutops, as it is immune to Waterfall, resists Stone Edge and can threaten to OHKO with Earth Power. Otherwise, it's safest for teams to keep the pressure on Kabutops by attacking it directly (even if this means sacrificing a pokemon), as the consequences of letting Kabutops freely set up a Swords Dance could be gamebreaking.
Any additional info: As most Swift Swim users are special attackers, Kabutops plays a very valuable role on rain teams by being the best pokemon to take on Chansey. Don't switch Kabutops in unnecessarily, as it can be the most reliable win condition on rain teams, as the special attacking Swift Swim pokemon often have to rely on Hydro Pump's 80% accuracy.
What to use
Excadrill @ Life Orb / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP [if using Life Orb]
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin / Swords Dance
Role: Physical Sweeper
What it does: Excadrill's high attack stat, combined with good neutral coverage and doubled speed in sand, makes it a terrifying physical sweeper. Indeed, Excadrill was found to be so overpowered under permanent weather in 5th Generation OU that it was banned to Ubers. In 6th generation, the limited duration of weather nerfed Excadrill to the point where it was balanced within the OU tier. Sand Rush Excadrill was not very common in early XY OU, but once its effectiveness was proven, it became a very popular play style, and now, is something that every team must be prepared to face.
Excadrill has a small movepool, and outside of its STABs, has few coverage options, so there's only one standard and viable set for it to use. Earthquake is its strongest STAB, and with the introduction of the Fairy type, Iron Head is now also a very useful secondary STAB, and backed by a life, it's powerful enough to have a small chance of OHKOing max physically defensive Clefable. Additionally, the 30% flinch chance can be used in do or die situations to hax your way past potential checks. Excadrill is one of the few physical attackers who lacks access to Stone Edge, but the greater accuracy of Rock Slide is a boon for Excadrill, as the move still has enough power to achieve the required OHKOes, including Thundurus (with a Life Orb boost). The 4th slot is generally used for Rapid Spin. While it seems odd to run this move on a physical sweeper, Gengar, the only common ghost type in OU can't safely spinblock (block Rapid Spin with its Ghost Typing) against Excadrill, and Excadrill's most popular teammates are often weak to Stealth Rock. Additionally, Tyranitar or Hippowdon who set up the sand for Excadrill are also commonly used to set Stealth Rocks, and so if there's a lead matchup in which both pokemon set up Stealth Rocks, Excadrill can them come in and freely Rapid Spin them away. The other viable, but significantly less common move run in the 4th slot is Swords Dance. Swords Dance sends Excadrill's attack stat through the roof, but its frailty makes it difficult to safely set up, and the shortened duration of sand means that it may be better off just attacking. Excadrill generally doesn't run a 4th attack, as X-Scissor and Shadow Claw don't provide much useful coverage on OU's common threats. The best choice for the 4th attack in the current metagame is probably Aerial Ace, to OHKO Mega Heracross, although Rapid Spin has a lot more general utility.
The most recent usage statistics show that the majority of Excadrills run 252 speed, so it's safest to match that on the EV spread. Under sand, this will make Excadrill faster than the entire OU tier, including all the viable Choice Scarf users. Adamant nature and 252 Attack allow Excadrill to hit as hard as possible. Sand Rush Excadrill can either hold a Life Orb or an Air Balloon, with the Life Orb being slightly more common, with the immediate benefit of additional power. Air Balloon gives Excadrill a once-off ground immunity, which helps in Excadrill mirror matchups, and lets Excadrill switch in on unsuspecting pokemons using a Choice item that are locked into Earthquake, such as Scarfed Landorus-T. If Excadrill is going to use Swords Dance over Rapid Spin, then an Air Balloon can provide a potential setup opportunity. Sand Rush Excadrills ocasionally run a Jolly nature to outspeed opposing Excadrills in an Excadrill mirror matchup, but the loss of power from this is undesirable.
Good teammates: Either Tyranitar or Hippowdon are mandatory, as they fuel the sandstream for Excadrill. Tyranitar is overwhelmingly the more common choice, as it has much better offensive synergy with Excadrill. Generally Focus Sash or Smooth Rock Tyranitars are used to set Stealth Rocks, and commonly run mixed sets with Fire Blast or Ice Beam as coverage moves to hit physical walls such as Ferrothorn, Gliscor, Landorus-T, Mega Scizor and Skarmory. It's possible to run Mega-Tyranitar + Excadrill, but this will leave Excadrill with fewer turns to use Sand Rush. If Excadrill is used with Hippowdon, then Excadrill can function more like a revenge killer, as Hippowdon's access to reliable recovery makes it a more durable weather setter, that is able to set up sand at multiple points in the game. However Hippowdon lacks Tyranitar's power and versatility, as Hippowdon will generally run Ground + Rock attacks, typings that are already covered by Excadrill.
Good teammates for this two pokemon sand core should be able to help remove the pokemon that wall Excadrill. Talonflame and/or Mega Pinsir can remove Fighting type pokemon with priority attacks for both Tyranitar and Excadrill. Powerful special attackers such as Mega Charizard Y, Keldeo and Greninja can hit physical walls on their weaker, special defense. Magnezone can trap Ferrothorn, Skarmory (and to an extent, Mega Scizor), and can run HP Ice on a Choice Scarf set to hit Landorus-T and Gliscor. Rotom-W and Magnezone can also use Volt Switch to help bring Excadrill in safely.
What counters it: Priority attacks are useful for revenge killing Excadrill. Excadrill is weak to Aqua Jet and Mach Punch, so Azumarill, Breloom and Conkeldurr are fairly realible checks to it. Although Talonflame cannot Flare Blitz Excadrill under sand, it can still outspeed with Brave Bird and do a little over 50% damage. Sand Rush Excadrill needs the sand up, and so one way to counter it is by threatening the sand setter, not allowing a free switch into Excadrill, or stalling out the sand turns. This is especially effective if the weather starter is not using Smooth Rock.Physically defensive Rotom-W is a fairly reliable counter to Sand Rush Excadrill. Landorus-T, phyiscally defensive Gliscor, Chesnaught and Skarmory are all fairly safe switchins. Mega Alakazam can trace Sand Rush and outspeed Excadrill, however this can only be done if Mega Alakazam has already mega evolved. Excadrill is not quite powerful enough to break through healthy pokemon with moderate bulk that are not weak to its STABs or coverage move; for example, Keldeo takes 81.4 - 95.6% from a Life Orb Earthquake. Finally, if Mega Charizard Y has already Mega Evolved, then it can set up sun, outspeed and OHKO Excadrill with Fire Blast.
Any additional info: Excadrill can viably run either Sand Rush or Mold Breaker as its abilities, although if you see Tyranitar + Excadrill, or Hippowdon + Excadrill on the same team, then you'll almost certainly be facing Sand Rush Excadrill. If Excadrill is using Mold Breaker, then 'Excadrill breaks the mold' will be displayed when it switches in.
By Fourth Inversion
Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance / Rapid Spin
- Aqua Jet / Low Kick
Role: Physical Sweeper
What it does: Kabutops is the best, and in fact only viable physical rain sweeper and should always be considered for a spot on a rain team. Waterfall, backed by the rain boost and Life Orb hits extremely hard. The 20% flinch chance is also a useful option in do or die situations, where you need some hax to win the game. Stone Edge is the strongest option for a secondary STAB, and it complements Waterfall well, by hitting most Water resists for neutral damage. Swords Dance is the best option in the 3rd slot, as while Kabutops is already powerful without a boost, with a Swords Dance, it reaches 722 attack, which is further boosted by Life Orb and rain. Almost nothing in OU is able to live an attack at +2. Although Swords Dance is difficult to set up, if Kabutops is able to get a safe switch in on an attacker lacking a super effective move, the added power will be well worth the moveslot. Rapid Spin can be run if there are no other options for hazard removal on the team, but it's not a preferable option, as Kabutops is one of the best win conditions for rain teams, and it's more reliable to use a teammate to provide this support.
In the 4th slot, Aqua Jet seems redundant, as Kabutops will outspeed every pokemon under the rain, but as it has +1 priority, Kabutops can outspeed Gale Wings Talonflame and Prankster Thundurus. Thundurus is OHKOed at +2 attack is Stealth Rocks are up, while every Talonflame set can be OHKOed if Stealth Rocks are up, or OHKOed if Kabutops is as +2. Aqua Jet also helps make up for Kabutops' low 80 base speed outside of the rain. Low Kick is viable to break through Ferrothorn, who resists both STABs, as Ferrothorn's weight make it hit at 100 base power. At +2, and boosted by Life Orb, it will always OHKO any common EV spreads, although it will take significant damage in the process from Iron Barbs, Life Orb and possibly Rocky Helmet. However, Low Kick is the best choice if your team has no other way of inflicting heavy damage on Ferrothorn.
29 HP IVs hit a Life Orb number, and the EVs are straightforward, maximising attack and speed. Kabutops already outspeeds every pokemon under rain (other than faster opposing Swift Swimmers), so an Adamant nature can be used over a Timid nature for maximum power.
Good teammates: Damp Rock Politoed is mandatory, to set up the rain for Kabutops, and there's also the option of using a suicide lead with Rain Dance and Damp Rock such as Azelf as an initial rain setter. Kingdra is a common partner in crime, as Kabutops can remove special walls and Assault Vest users for Kingdra. If using Aqua Jet over Low Kick, Tornadus-T, Thundurus-I and Thundurus-T can run Focus Blast or Superpower to inflict major damage on Ferrothorn. Mega Scizor can use its slow U-Turn to give Kabutops a safe switch in. Mega Heracross in particular, but also Mega Gardevoir and Mega Medicham benefit from Kabutops' ability to remove their faster checks, allowing them to reliably wallbreak for Kabutops and other Swift Swim users by removing pokemon like Ferrothorn. Mega Ampharos can use Thunder over Thunderbolt, and has useful resistances, including covering the weaknesses to Grass and Electric moves. Stealth Rocks are very helpful, as Kabutops can then beat Thundurus with Aqua Jet, and if not using a suicide lead with Stealth Rocks, Ferrothorn is a great hazard setter on rain teams, as it resists Grass and Electric type moves.
What counters it: Not much can reliably counter Kabutops after a Swords Dance, although Mega Aggron can take a hit at +2 and do significant damage back with Earthquake, as can Suicune's CroCune set with Scald, while physically defensive Mega Venusaur, can also survive one +2 Stone Edge and OHKO with Giga Drain. As mentioned above, Ferrothorn easily counters sets without Low Kick. Keldeo resists Water, Rock and Fighting type moves, and can OHKO Kabutops with a move of choice, and can fire off rain boosted Scalds or Hydro Pumps afterwards. Teams with Tyranitar, Hippowdon or Mega Charizard-Y can change the weather, although none of these pokemon want to directly switch in on a rain boosted attack. Breloom comes close to OHKOing Kabutops with Mach Punch and while Azumarill, Mega Scizor, Scizor and Conkeldurr can also inflict a reasonable amount of damage, they can't come close to OHKOing Kabutops at full health. Kabutops resists Extreme Speed and Talonflame's Brave Bird, so it's quite difficult to directly revenge kill with priority moves alone. Gastrodon is rare, but a physically defensive spread can comfortably take on Kabutops, as it is immune to Waterfall, resists Stone Edge and can threaten to OHKO with Earth Power. Otherwise, it's safest for teams to keep the pressure on Kabutops by attacking it directly (even if this means sacrificing a pokemon), as the consequences of letting Kabutops freely set up a Swords Dance could be gamebreaking.
Any additional info: As most Swift Swim users are special attackers, Kabutops plays a very valuable role on rain teams by being the best pokemon to take on Chansey. Don't switch Kabutops in unnecessarily, as it can be the most reliable win condition on rain teams, as the special attacking Swift Swim pokemon often have to rely on Hydro Pump's 80% accuracy.
By Fourth Inversion
Politoed@Damp rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic / Hypnosis
- Encore / Perish Song
- Rest
Role: Support
What it does: Politoed is the only pokemon in OU with access to the ability Drizzle, fueling the whole playstyle of Rain teams. Politoed was given Drizzle as a hidden ability in Generation 5, and the combination of permanent rain and Swift Swim was quickly found to be overpowered, and was one of the first bans in BW OU. In XY, the shortened duration of weather (5 turns, 8 if holding the corresponding weather lengthening item) along with a slight reduction in base power of special attacks nerfed Rain enough that is currently a powerful, but not unbalanced playstyle in the OU tier.
Rain teams need Politoed's support to function, so while Politoed commonly ran offensive sets in BW OU, in XY OU it needs to survive for as long as possible to be able to set up the rain throughout the match. Max HP is essential, with the remainder of the defensive EVs placed into either defensive stat, with the corresponding nature to support it. Max Special Defense helps to check Mega Charizard Y, and is the most common option, but Max Defense is also viable to patch up Politoed's low 75 defense. Variants of these EV spreads are possible. Damp Rock is the only viable item to hold, so that Politoed doesn't need to switch in as often.
Scald is the best Water STAB for Politoed, due to the 30% burn chance. Politoed's special attack stat is very low without investment, so it's less common to run a second attack such as Ice Beam. Politoed has a wide array of support moves that can benefit the team. Encore and Hypnosis can provide a free switchin for a teammate, Toxic has good general utility, Perish Song and Haze can force out setup sweepers and Rest (which is generally not combined with Sleep Talk) allows Politoed to stay healthy to repeatedly set up Rain. Rain Dance is also an option to manually restart the rain. The movest is only a suggestion, and other than Scald, the remaining moves should be chosen based on the needs of your team.
Good teammates: Politoed should never be chosen without the support of appropriate teammates, as non-Drizzle Politoed is currently in the PU tier (below NU), indicating that it's not a very powerful pokemon by itself. The first port of call should always be one or more Swift Swim users, which benefit from doubled speed as well as from powered up Water STABs. Kabutops and Kingdra are the two best choices, as Kabutops can use Life Orb + Swords Dance + Waterfall to break through any physical wall, while Kingdra can hold Choice Specs, or even run a mixed set, capitalising on its access to high base power Dragon STABs. Omastar is rarer than Kingdra, but can fire off Choice Specs boosted Hydro Pumps, and also has access to the very risky Shell Smash. Seismitoad and Ludicolo are both niche options. Seismitoad's main niche is its secondary Ground typing, giving it an Electric immunity, as well as Prankster Thunder Wave from Thundurus. Ludicolo provides STAB Grass moves, and a neutrality to Electric and Grass moves, but is less powerful than other Swift Swim users.
On hyper offensive rain, it's possible to employ a suicide lead with Rain Dance and Damp Rock that can also support the team, with moves like Stealth Rock, or Dual Screens. Azelf is a popular choice, as it can also use Explosion to give a free switch in for a teammate. Rain balance is less matchup reliant than hyper offense. Ferrothorn is practically mandatory, as it resists Electric and Grass attacks, has its Fire weakness covered by rain, and can provide Stealth Rocks and Grass type attacks for the team. Tornadus-T with either Assault Vest or Life Orb can fire off 100% accurate Hurricanes. A Choice Scarfed Ground type pokemon can also be helpful for the added speed outside of rain, and ability to check Thundurus, with common options being Landorus-T or Excadrill, which can also Rapid Spin away hazards. Thundurus, Thundurus-T, Latias and Latios can all run Thunder over Thunderbolt, and Latias and Latios can also provide Defog support. Ferrothorn is an enormous pain to beat under Rain, and it's helpful to have at least one Fighting move on the team to help break through it.
There are several Mega Pokemon that can directly benefit from the rain. Agility Mega Ampharos set can run Thunder over Thunderbolt, and covers the Electric and Grass weaknesses of the team. Mega Scizor can provide Defog support, and Rain helps cover its 4x Fire weakness. Mega Gyarados can set up a Dragon Dance and fire off rain boosted Waterfalls. Other Mega Pokemon that can support the team out of Rain are also viable.
What counters it: As Politoed will always be paired with some rain abusers, the difficulty is always going to be countering Politoed's teammates. Weatherless offensive teams have the worst matchup against rain, as they tend to run many frail pokemon that can be outsped and OHKOed by Swift Swim users. Sand or Charizard-Y teams should play cautiously with their weather starter, and try to wear Politoed down, as it will need to repeatedly switch in to set up rain. Stall teams have a favourable matchup against rain, as they can quickly wear down the opposing team with status moves and have the bulk to outlast rain.
Water resists and immunities are the most difficult pokemon for Rain to deal with, so pokemon like Ferrothorn, Mega Venusaur, Assault Vest Azumarill, Slowbro and Gastrodon can all pose problems. Thunder Wave is a very annoying status for Rain teams to deal with, as Rain generally doesn't have a spare slot to run a cleric.
Any additional info: Keep rain up as much as possible, and try not to switch Politoed in unless it needs to set up rain, as the weather counter doesn't reset if Politoed switches in when rain is already active.
Politoed@Damp rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic / Hypnosis
- Encore / Perish Song
- Rest
Role: Support
What it does: Politoed is the only pokemon in OU with access to the ability Drizzle, fueling the whole playstyle of Rain teams. Politoed was given Drizzle as a hidden ability in Generation 5, and the combination of permanent rain and Swift Swim was quickly found to be overpowered, and was one of the first bans in BW OU. In XY, the shortened duration of weather (5 turns, 8 if holding the corresponding weather lengthening item) along with a slight reduction in base power of special attacks nerfed Rain enough that is currently a powerful, but not unbalanced playstyle in the OU tier.
Rain teams need Politoed's support to function, so while Politoed commonly ran offensive sets in BW OU, in XY OU it needs to survive for as long as possible to be able to set up the rain throughout the match. Max HP is essential, with the remainder of the defensive EVs placed into either defensive stat, with the corresponding nature to support it. Max Special Defense helps to check Mega Charizard Y, and is the most common option, but Max Defense is also viable to patch up Politoed's low 75 defense. Variants of these EV spreads are possible. Damp Rock is the only viable item to hold, so that Politoed doesn't need to switch in as often.
Scald is the best Water STAB for Politoed, due to the 30% burn chance. Politoed's special attack stat is very low without investment, so it's less common to run a second attack such as Ice Beam. Politoed has a wide array of support moves that can benefit the team. Encore and Hypnosis can provide a free switchin for a teammate, Toxic has good general utility, Perish Song and Haze can force out setup sweepers and Rest (which is generally not combined with Sleep Talk) allows Politoed to stay healthy to repeatedly set up Rain. Rain Dance is also an option to manually restart the rain. The movest is only a suggestion, and other than Scald, the remaining moves should be chosen based on the needs of your team.
Good teammates: Politoed should never be chosen without the support of appropriate teammates, as non-Drizzle Politoed is currently in the PU tier (below NU), indicating that it's not a very powerful pokemon by itself. The first port of call should always be one or more Swift Swim users, which benefit from doubled speed as well as from powered up Water STABs. Kabutops and Kingdra are the two best choices, as Kabutops can use Life Orb + Swords Dance + Waterfall to break through any physical wall, while Kingdra can hold Choice Specs, or even run a mixed set, capitalising on its access to high base power Dragon STABs. Omastar is rarer than Kingdra, but can fire off Choice Specs boosted Hydro Pumps, and also has access to the very risky Shell Smash. Seismitoad and Ludicolo are both niche options. Seismitoad's main niche is its secondary Ground typing, giving it an Electric immunity, as well as Prankster Thunder Wave from Thundurus. Ludicolo provides STAB Grass moves, and a neutrality to Electric and Grass moves, but is less powerful than other Swift Swim users.
On hyper offensive rain, it's possible to employ a suicide lead with Rain Dance and Damp Rock that can also support the team, with moves like Stealth Rock, or Dual Screens. Azelf is a popular choice, as it can also use Explosion to give a free switch in for a teammate. Rain balance is less matchup reliant than hyper offense. Ferrothorn is practically mandatory, as it resists Electric and Grass attacks, has its Fire weakness covered by rain, and can provide Stealth Rocks and Grass type attacks for the team. Tornadus-T with either Assault Vest or Life Orb can fire off 100% accurate Hurricanes. A Choice Scarfed Ground type pokemon can also be helpful for the added speed outside of rain, and ability to check Thundurus, with common options being Landorus-T or Excadrill, which can also Rapid Spin away hazards. Thundurus, Thundurus-T, Latias and Latios can all run Thunder over Thunderbolt, and Latias and Latios can also provide Defog support. Ferrothorn is an enormous pain to beat under Rain, and it's helpful to have at least one Fighting move on the team to help break through it.
There are several Mega Pokemon that can directly benefit from the rain. Agility Mega Ampharos set can run Thunder over Thunderbolt, and covers the Electric and Grass weaknesses of the team. Mega Scizor can provide Defog support, and Rain helps cover its 4x Fire weakness. Mega Gyarados can set up a Dragon Dance and fire off rain boosted Waterfalls. Other Mega Pokemon that can support the team out of Rain are also viable.
What counters it: As Politoed will always be paired with some rain abusers, the difficulty is always going to be countering Politoed's teammates. Weatherless offensive teams have the worst matchup against rain, as they tend to run many frail pokemon that can be outsped and OHKOed by Swift Swim users. Sand or Charizard-Y teams should play cautiously with their weather starter, and try to wear Politoed down, as it will need to repeatedly switch in to set up rain. Stall teams have a favourable matchup against rain, as they can quickly wear down the opposing team with status moves and have the bulk to outlast rain.
Water resists and immunities are the most difficult pokemon for Rain to deal with, so pokemon like Ferrothorn, Mega Venusaur, Assault Vest Azumarill, Slowbro and Gastrodon can all pose problems. Thunder Wave is a very annoying status for Rain teams to deal with, as Rain generally doesn't have a spare slot to run a cleric.
Any additional info: Keep rain up as much as possible, and try not to switch Politoed in unless it needs to set up rain, as the weather counter doesn't reset if Politoed switches in when rain is already active.
by Albacore
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability : Regenerator
EVs : 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Foul Play / HP [Fire / Stun Spore / HP Ice
Role: Pivot
What It Does: Thanks to its typing and ability, Amoonguss is one of the best all-around answers to Water types such as Azumarill, Keldeo, Rotom-W, Suicune, Manaphy, and to a lesser extent, Mega-Gyarados, and also deals with a few Grass and Fighting types too. Although it suffers from a lot of competition with Mega-Venusaur, who is more powerful and has more raw bulk, Amoongus's ability to consistently switch into these threats without getting worn down thanks to its great ability, Regenerator, makes it better suited for teams which need a Water counter that is nearly impossible to wear down. Regenerator is really what makes this Pokemon what it is, enabling it to gain its health back very easily and making it much harder to take down, and letting it potentially escape from a 2HKO by swicthing out and gaining its health back. While its pretty bad offensive stats may make it look passive and easy to take advantage of, its access to Spore gives it one chance to disable a threat, so it isn't completely passive. It also it's setup bait either, since it has access to Clear Smog, which stops the likes of Clefable, Manphy and Suicune from muscling past him, and Foul Play can hurt physical setup sweepers such as Mega-Scizor and Dragonite. Amoonguss can be a bit of a sitting duck once Sleep Clause has been activated, but it can still use Giga Drain to wear out the opposition, can choose to run Stun Spore to cripple the opposition, or can hit a Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Landorusin their 4x weakenesses with Hidden Power Fire/Ice.
Good teammates: Some very obvious teammates for Amoonguss would be other Regenerator Pokemon such as Slowbro, Alomomola, or Tornadus-T. Bulky Fire types such as Mega-Charizard-X or Heatran (particularly the latter since it resists all of Amoonguss's weakenesses) have good synergy with Amoonguss, especially since they can, paired up with Slowbro or Alomomola, form a FWG core with it. Bulky Steel types are also good partners since they resist Psychic and Flying type moves, which Amoonguss is weak to. Hippowdon and Tyranitar is also a pretty good partner for Amoonguss, since a lot of Pokemon that threaten them and sand offense in general (Azumarill, Keldeo, Breloom, Suicune etc) areeasily deal with by Amoonguss.
What Counters/Checks It: Mandibuzz and Mega-Venusaur able to absorb Spore and beat it one-on-one. Once Sleep Clause has been activated, it isn't exactly difficult to beat Amoonguss, given his lack of offensive presence and weakeness to common types. Fire types such as Charizard-X Charizard-Y, Heatran, Flying types such as Talonflame, Tornadus-T and Staraptor, Ice types like Mamoswine and Kyurem-B, Psychic types like Mega-Alakazam and Mega-Medicham as well as Pokemon with coverage to beat it like Landorus-I and Greninja, and just powerful wallbreakers such as Mega-Heracross and Diggersby in general can deal with it just fine, however, none of these can prevent Amoonguss from switching out. The best way to completely remove Amoonguss is by trapping it with Gothitelle.
Any Additional Info: Amoonguss fits very well on Sand teams, since these tend to be quite water-weak. Also, thanks to Regenerator, it requires no hazard removal to counter the threats it need to.
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability : Regenerator
EVs : 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Foul Play / HP [Fire / Stun Spore / HP Ice
Role: Pivot
What It Does: Thanks to its typing and ability, Amoonguss is one of the best all-around answers to Water types such as Azumarill, Keldeo, Rotom-W, Suicune, Manaphy, and to a lesser extent, Mega-Gyarados, and also deals with a few Grass and Fighting types too. Although it suffers from a lot of competition with Mega-Venusaur, who is more powerful and has more raw bulk, Amoongus's ability to consistently switch into these threats without getting worn down thanks to its great ability, Regenerator, makes it better suited for teams which need a Water counter that is nearly impossible to wear down. Regenerator is really what makes this Pokemon what it is, enabling it to gain its health back very easily and making it much harder to take down, and letting it potentially escape from a 2HKO by swicthing out and gaining its health back. While its pretty bad offensive stats may make it look passive and easy to take advantage of, its access to Spore gives it one chance to disable a threat, so it isn't completely passive. It also it's setup bait either, since it has access to Clear Smog, which stops the likes of Clefable, Manphy and Suicune from muscling past him, and Foul Play can hurt physical setup sweepers such as Mega-Scizor and Dragonite. Amoonguss can be a bit of a sitting duck once Sleep Clause has been activated, but it can still use Giga Drain to wear out the opposition, can choose to run Stun Spore to cripple the opposition, or can hit a Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Landorusin their 4x weakenesses with Hidden Power Fire/Ice.
Good teammates: Some very obvious teammates for Amoonguss would be other Regenerator Pokemon such as Slowbro, Alomomola, or Tornadus-T. Bulky Fire types such as Mega-Charizard-X or Heatran (particularly the latter since it resists all of Amoonguss's weakenesses) have good synergy with Amoonguss, especially since they can, paired up with Slowbro or Alomomola, form a FWG core with it. Bulky Steel types are also good partners since they resist Psychic and Flying type moves, which Amoonguss is weak to. Hippowdon and Tyranitar is also a pretty good partner for Amoonguss, since a lot of Pokemon that threaten them and sand offense in general (Azumarill, Keldeo, Breloom, Suicune etc) areeasily deal with by Amoonguss.
What Counters/Checks It: Mandibuzz and Mega-Venusaur able to absorb Spore and beat it one-on-one. Once Sleep Clause has been activated, it isn't exactly difficult to beat Amoonguss, given his lack of offensive presence and weakeness to common types. Fire types such as Charizard-X Charizard-Y, Heatran, Flying types such as Talonflame, Tornadus-T and Staraptor, Ice types like Mamoswine and Kyurem-B, Psychic types like Mega-Alakazam and Mega-Medicham as well as Pokemon with coverage to beat it like Landorus-I and Greninja, and just powerful wallbreakers such as Mega-Heracross and Diggersby in general can deal with it just fine, however, none of these can prevent Amoonguss from switching out. The best way to completely remove Amoonguss is by trapping it with Gothitelle.
Any Additional Info: Amoonguss fits very well on Sand teams, since these tend to be quite water-weak. Also, thanks to Regenerator, it requires no hazard removal to counter the threats it need to.
What NOT to use:
By Sevifar
What not to use:
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Superpower/Flash Cannon/Fire Blast/Earth Power
Role: Revenge Killer/Pivot
What It Does: Hydreigon is a terrible scarfer, with a myriad of problems and no real niche over other scarfers like Terrakion, Lando-T or fast mons/revenge killers in general like Mega-Alakazam or Talonflame. The first problem that Hydreigon faces as a revenge killer is it's speed tier. While it's great for decently bulky pokemon, it is terrible for a "fast mon" as it outsped/beaten by Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Terrakion, Scarf Staraptor, Scarf Garchomp, +1 Char-X, SR Exca, etc. The point is that it loses the speed war to pretty much everything. The 2nd problem is it's typing, Which is exploited by every fast mon ever. Priority wise it's neutral to E-Speed/Brave Bird/B-Punch and weak to everything else. It's also weak to U-Turn and pretty much every fastmon I mentioned above can hit it SE with a STAB or powerful coverage (such as Staraptor's close combat). Oh, it resists Aqua jet but it's forced out anyway so its irrelevant. The 3rd problem is power, 125 neutral base w/o an item or ability is kinda weak and makes revengekilling kinda hard, especially since you're relying on neutral coverage most of the time. Draco meteor is powerful but no dragon will ever switch in and fairies like Azumarill resist your whole moveset and can come in with impunity. Lastly, if you get hit by knock off (entirely possible you'll use Hydreigon to resist a knock off) you are now 100% useless at revenge killing since you're below the 100 spe tier.
What Counters/Checks It: Azumarill, Heatran, Clefairy, actually most fairies, even if you're running Flash Cannon. Hydreigon is checked by pretty much every other scarfer, AV Conk, Mega Venusaur, Dnite W/multiscale.
Any Additional Info: While Hydreigon's Scarf set is terrible, the LO set is fairly decent at a different role. However, the bans of Aegislash and Mega-Mawile (Two big reasons to use it) and subsequent rise of the "Big 3" have hurt Hydreigon's viability on the whole quite a bit. Instead, use Talonflame, Garchomp, Terrakion, Lando-T or another mon that dosen't have the same set of flaws as this guy.
(I omitted the "Good Teammates" section because I felt that encourages usage which would be against this whole post. This is the 1st "What not to use" post so there's no precedent, but if it's required I'll include it)
What not to use:
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Superpower/Flash Cannon/Fire Blast/Earth Power
Role: Revenge Killer/Pivot
What It Does: Hydreigon is a terrible scarfer, with a myriad of problems and no real niche over other scarfers like Terrakion, Lando-T or fast mons/revenge killers in general like Mega-Alakazam or Talonflame. The first problem that Hydreigon faces as a revenge killer is it's speed tier. While it's great for decently bulky pokemon, it is terrible for a "fast mon" as it outsped/beaten by Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Terrakion, Scarf Staraptor, Scarf Garchomp, +1 Char-X, SR Exca, etc. The point is that it loses the speed war to pretty much everything. The 2nd problem is it's typing, Which is exploited by every fast mon ever. Priority wise it's neutral to E-Speed/Brave Bird/B-Punch and weak to everything else. It's also weak to U-Turn and pretty much every fastmon I mentioned above can hit it SE with a STAB or powerful coverage (such as Staraptor's close combat). Oh, it resists Aqua jet but it's forced out anyway so its irrelevant. The 3rd problem is power, 125 neutral base w/o an item or ability is kinda weak and makes revengekilling kinda hard, especially since you're relying on neutral coverage most of the time. Draco meteor is powerful but no dragon will ever switch in and fairies like Azumarill resist your whole moveset and can come in with impunity. Lastly, if you get hit by knock off (entirely possible you'll use Hydreigon to resist a knock off) you are now 100% useless at revenge killing since you're below the 100 spe tier.
What Counters/Checks It: Azumarill, Heatran, Clefairy, actually most fairies, even if you're running Flash Cannon. Hydreigon is checked by pretty much every other scarfer, AV Conk, Mega Venusaur, Dnite W/multiscale.
Any Additional Info: While Hydreigon's Scarf set is terrible, the LO set is fairly decent at a different role. However, the bans of Aegislash and Mega-Mawile (Two big reasons to use it) and subsequent rise of the "Big 3" have hurt Hydreigon's viability on the whole quite a bit. Instead, use Talonflame, Garchomp, Terrakion, Lando-T or another mon that dosen't have the same set of flaws as this guy.
(I omitted the "Good Teammates" section because I felt that encourages usage which would be against this whole post. This is the 1st "What not to use" post so there's no precedent, but if it's required I'll include it)
Very well, since after Aegislash's and Mawile's bans the Metagame changed greatly, I decided to completely overhaul the actual Pokemons added in the previous Teambuilding Thread by TRC, I will later add some standard roles, feel free to post, and remember, no Gimmicks.
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