VGC RMT: Welcome to My Chasm of Tricks

[hydreigone]

Hey there guys, first time posting here. You might know me on nuggetbridge as hydreigone or on stunfisk as u/doctorsweg since I've been there for a little while now. I've been playing VGC at home since the start of VGC 2015 on battle spot and on showdown. My best achievement is probably laddering to 1450 on showdown (I don't know how good that is but whatever) and bubbling out of cut at a PC I went to. Obviously just starting out.

But that's enough about me and now it's time to start talking about the team I want you guys to rate! I've put a lot of thought into it and have changing it up a ton.

I knew I wanted to build a trick room team since the strategy seemed interesting. I went through past TR teams on nuggetbridge and stuff and found this kewl core used by cybertran and his little bro

So this was my starting point

Next I wanted a Mega Evolution that works well under Trick Room, Priority, and Intimidate

Mawile was added because it has all the things I needed

Now I wanted a fast mode that can beat opposing trick roomers like Cresselia and Jellicent

hydreigon was chosen because of good offense and speed, forms Steel Dragon core with Mawile.

Next, I went thru what seems like FOREVER in testing multiple sets on every Pokemon as well as alternatives
-Tested Sitrus Berry, Mental herb, safety goggles, Psychic, Helping Hand, Energy Ball, and no attacks Cresselia
-tested light screen, HP grass, and volt switch on rotom
-tested multiple moves on heatran
-Mawile's set remained the same throughout
-Tested different items on Conk and Hydreigon. ran HP Ice Scarf Hydrei to snipe landorus-t, switch between hammer arm and drain punch on conk

Now here is the finished team

Sectonia (Cresselia) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 100 Def / 188 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Rest
- Ice Beam
- Sunny Day

Standard Chesto Resto Cresselia but with Sunny Day, which allows me to bring Heatran against rain to beat bulky steels commonly found on rain teams. The EVs allow cresselia to take a +1 Life Orb boosted Knock Off from Bisharp and KO 4 HP Landorus-T with Ice Beam 94% of the time. 220 HP minimzes weather related damage and survives Specs Hydreigon Dark Pulse. I switched to Chesto berry over Safety Goggles to beat Breloom, which is a big problem for the team. I don't need Psychic as much as I need Ice Beam as well as heal on the last turn of TR, when my opponents like to double protect with both Pokemon. It also let's me take care of status

Note: credit to cybertron's video for the EV spread

Magolor (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 12 SpA / 148 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Miss
- Protect

Rotom-W chips down my opponent and sets up KOs for Mawile, while neutering physical attackers with WoW. This one, much like Cresselia is a defensive set with offense purely being leftover EVs. This allows Rotom to take many strong attacks: Jolly kang Double-edge, Mawile Play Rough, Azumarill Play Rough, Specs hydreigon Draco Meteor, and char-y solarbeam.

Doomer (Heatran) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 21 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Ancient Power
- Protect

Overheatran is my favorite set. Overheatran can KO Landorus-T, Aegislash, and Amoonguss all in one blow, and if sun is up, even Kanghaskan. Flash Cannon is useless on Heatran: it is only used against fairies, and does not KO them because they are all naturally specially defensive. Earth Power is only used on other Heatran, and I have 3 other Heatran counters. So Ancient Power was chosen as the last move to improve against Char-Y. I had stone edge but my good reddit friends tacolism and broke_stupid_lonely convinced me Ancient Power is the way to go.

A Quiet nature and 21 Speed IVs allow Cresselia to use sunny day or pick up a KO before Heatran moves under Trick Room. This will increase the damage output for Heat Wave.

Nightmare (Mawile-Mega) (M) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate - Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 44 Def / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
IVs: 1 Spe (so no EVs are wasted at level 50)
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Protect

Mawile is the best Trick Room mega, IMO, because of it's middling speed, priority, and Intimidate. There not much to say here about the standard moveset. 252 Attack wastes a lot of EVs, so I decided to invest just a little bit of bulk. Unboosted Heatran Heat Waves never KO Mawile, and neither do sun boosted ones from Zapdos. Landorus-T's Earthquake is Mawile's favorite food, and -1 Choice Band Talonflame's Flare Blitz won't be getting the KO.

Crazy Hand (Conkeldurr) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 50
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
IVs: 3 Spe (once again not to waste anything at Level 50)
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- Protect

Part two of the Physical sweeping duo is Lum Conkeldurr with Iron Fist. Guts seemed useless to me: I don't know anyone in their right mind who would status a Conkeldurr and the Iron Fist boost on a Pokemon with such high attack is really good. I don't like Assualt Vest, because I like to Protect my Conkeldurr when needed- Mostly to block fake out, since Conkeldurr cannot survive both a Fake Out and Duble edge from Adamant Kanghaskan. The EV spread's only purpose is to live Adamant Kang's Double-Edge. I used drain Punch instead of Hammer Arm since I can't hit a Hammer Arm if my life depended on it. Like Mawile, Conkeldurr is a really good Trick Room attacker because it also has priority.

Dark Matter (Hydreigon) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 60 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power

This is another standard Specs Hydreigon set. The EVs focus more on bulk and speed than immediate power. This set will live a Superpower from Landorus-T and KO back with Draco Meteor. The Speed allows Hydreigon to outspeed Timid Heatran, Jolly Breloom, Jolly Bisharp, and most Rotom variants. Draco Meteor is still an amazingly strong attack and dark Pulse beats Cresselia. Earth Power for Heatran and Fire Blast for some extra coverage doesn't hurt.

COMMON LEADS

standard

vs kanghaskan

/

vs rain

+ anything

sun mode / vs sun

/

vs trick room

+ anything

THREATS

Bulky Water types, especially paired with lightning rod, are huge threats as they can beat a majority of the team. Sunny Day can be countered by strong ground and ice type attacks

Fighting types, especially with Fake Out or extra coverage such as fire, scream trouble

Sleep and Shadow Tag cause problems, forcing me to run Chesto and Lum on two mons.

And last but not least, simply Pokemon with a lot of coverage

That's it for now: thanks for reading guys and all help is appreciated!

 

[P3DS]

Ever considered maybe running a skill swap cresselia, to make hearean immune to ground moves, like wolfe glicke's 2012 team. as you have already sorted out speed on heatran, it is useful to consider. It can also be used to steal nice abilities from foes, i.e. steal kang's parental bond, and give it to hydreigon, or remove another heatran's flash fire, and yours can heat wave/over heat for the win. Removing stuff like sift swim is nice, and shuts of shadow tag too.

 

[hydreigone]

Ever considered maybe running a skill swap cresselia, to make hearean immune to ground moves, like wolfe glicke's 2012 team. as you have already sorted out speed on heatran, it is useful to consider. It can also be used to steal nice abilities from foes, i.e. steal kang's parental bond, and give it to hydreigon, or remove another heatran's flash fire, and yours can heat wave/over heat for the win. Removing stuff like sift swim is nice, and shuts of shadow tag too.

That sounds like a really neat idea, thanks! But what move would you suggest I remove from Cresselia? I think running Safety goggles and using it over Rest, since the other moves are too valuable on Cresselia.

This also let's me steal things like Gastrodon's Storm drain and Raichu's lightning Rod, making them easier to beat.

 

[Eeyore]

I see problems with a few bulky pokemon you didn't mention, but are still very prevalent.

Mega Venusaur laughs at most of your team, and with common pokemon running alongside of it like Arcanine, Milotic,
252+ SpA Life Orb Heatran Overheat vs. 252 HP / 52 SpD Thick Fat Mega Venusaur: 133-156 (71.1 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


You also fall really fast to rain. Besides Rotom (which falls quickly to common rain sweepers like Ludicolo, and fails to work well against most rain teams that bring a ground type like Gastrodon), there's little to answer.

To be honest, I think you need a second Trick Room setter-- a more offensive one, so that you still have the powerhouses, but something to deal with the marinade of weakness you have. Jellicent, Slowking, and Exeggutor all come to mind, as they resist fighting, and water, set Trick Room and can be Offensive or Defensive.

However, consider Dusclops, Aromatiss, or Slowbro as well, as they're bulky, resist fighting and can work in their own rights.

That sounds like a really neat idea, thanks! But what move would you suggest I remove from Cresselia? I think running Safety goggles and using it over Rest, since the other moves are too valuable on Cresselia.

This also let's me steal things like Gastrodon's Storm drain and Raichu's lightning Rod, making them easier to beat.

Honestly, I'd do it over either rest or Sunny Day, as Sunny Day is really only working for Heatran, while rest is increasing survivability and makes it immune to status.

 

[Charlotte]

A Quiet nature and 21 Speed IVs allow Cresselia to use sunny day or pick up a KO before Heatran moves under Trick Room. This will increase the damage output for Heat Wave.

Modest with 0 speed gives you the same stat, 82, with lower attack.

Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 44 Def / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
IVs: 1 Spe (so no EVs are wasted at level 50)

If your aim is to be as slow as possible then 'wasting' EVs is better. 504 is optimal for a lot of TR spreads, don't worry about using all 508 in these scenarios. You don't get anything from investing 4 EVs in speed that you couldn't get from increasing the IVs further. Investing in 3 stats instead of 4 also doesn't get you more even though you'd be using all 508 as the total number of actual stat points added remains the same as 504 across 4 stats.

 

[hydreigone]

I see problems with a few bulky pokemon you didn't mention, but are still very prevalent.

Mega Venusaur laughs at most of your team, and with common pokemon running alongside of it like Arcanine, Milotic,
252+ SpA Life Orb Heatran Overheat vs. 252 HP / 52 SpD Thick Fat Mega Venusaur: 133-156 (71.1 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


You also fall really fast to rain. Besides Rotom (which falls quickly to common rain sweepers like Ludicolo, and fails to work well against most rain teams that bring a ground type like Gastrodon), there's little to answer.

To be honest, I think you need a second Trick Room setter-- a more offensive one, so that you still have the powerhouses, but something to deal with the marinade of weakness you have. Jellicent, Slowking, and Exeggutor all come to mind, as they resist fighting, and water, set Trick Room and can be Offensive or Defensive.

However, consider Dusclops, Aromatiss, or Slowbro as well, as they're bulky, resist fighting and can work in their own rights.

Honestly, I'd do it over either rest or Sunny Day, as Sunny Day is really only working for Heatran, while rest is increasing survivability and makes it immune to status.

thanks for the advice. Sunny Day was actually placed on Cress after I did have Rain problems. Mega Mawile and Heatran are good against Venusaur. It's hard to OHKO, but it doesn't apply any offensive pressure other than against Rotom.

I actually have not faced a Gastrodon rain team, but yes, I am aware the team has issues with Gastrodon. I was running Energy Ball on Cress and HP Grass on Rotom to deal with it, but only using it in a Gastrodon matchup seemed like a waste. I also tested Virizion in the Conkeldurr slot but I'd rather have something slower since Hydreigon was my fast mode already.

If I were to add a second TR setter, who would you suggest I remove from the team? I'm actually thinking of maybe swapping Heatran for Chandelure, as they both are offensive fire types.
thanks again for the suggestions, I really appreciate it.

edit: Also, using skill swap like p3ds suggested allows me to steal Venusaur's thick fat, making it along with Fire and Water types easier to deal with. What do you think about that? Can also swap away swift swim and storm drain found on rain teams

 

[hydreigone]

Modest with 0 speed gives you the same stat, 82, with lower attack.

If your aim is to be as slow as possible then 'wasting' EVs is better. 504 is optimal for a lot of TR spreads, don't worry about using all 508 in these scenarios. You don't get anything from investing 4 EVs in speed that you couldn't get from increasing the IVs further. Investing in 3 stats instead of 4 also doesn't get you more even though you'd be using all 508 as the total number of actual stat points added remains the same as 504 across 4 stats.

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to change Mawile's EVs and dump all the Defense EVs in Attack because I'll still take -1 LO Talonflame Flare Blitz and Neutral Adamant Lando-T spread EQ anyways. And on Conk probably just not use the last 4 EVs.

 

[Eeyore]

thanks for the advice. Sunny Day was actually placed on Cress after I did have Rain problems. Mega Mawile and Heatran are good against Venusaur. It's hard to OHKO, but it doesn't apply any offensive pressure other than against Rotom.

I actually have not faced a Gastrodon rain team, but yes, I am aware the team has issues with Gastrodon. I was running Energy Ball on Cress and HP Grass on Rotom to deal with it, but only using it in a Gastrodon matchup seemed like a waste. I also tested Virizion in the Conkeldurr slot but I'd rather have something slower since Hydreigon was my fast mode already.

If I were to add a second TR setter, who would you suggest I remove from the team? I'm actually thinking of maybe swapping Heatran for Chandelure, as they both are offensive fire types.
thanks again for the suggestions, I really appreciate it.

edit: Also, using skill swap like p3ds suggested allows me to steal Venusaur's thick fat, making it along with Fire and Water types easier to deal with. What do you think about that? Can also swap away swift swim and storm drain found on rain teams

Actually, Heatran for Chandy would help a lot, as it would get rid of some fighting weakness. Watch for Bisharp then, but I think you're headed in the right direction.

 

[hydreigone]

Actually, Heatran for Chandy would help a lot, as it would get rid of some fighting weakness. Watch for Bisharp then, but I think you're headed in the right direction.

Thanks. One problem I see is that out of all mons, Gastrodon (hits three mons for SE and walls half the team) and scrafty (fake out pressure, hits 3 mons for STAB SE and intimidates both counters) are probably the team's biggest weaknesses and neither Chandelure nor Heatran fix the issues. I could run energy ball on Chandelure or HP Grass on Heatran, but beating Gastro means TR has to be down (so I outspeed) and even then no 1HKO.

Someone actually suggested running a dual mega team with a slow, bulky, Mega Charizard-y in the Heatran slot. I haven't tested it yet, but what do you feel about the idea?