ORAS OU Souls of Dark [ZardX KyuB Balance]

[Æthereal Reaper]

Hey there everyone, I'm Æthereal and this is my new team. It is loosely named after dark souls since some of the mons remind me of dark souls. I've had success on the ladder peaking somewhere in the low 1500's, making this my most successful team (that I've built.) I'm hoping with your help, we can make that number go up a bit :)

Teambuilding Process

This was a mon that in the past, I had very little dealings with. After looking at him on the dex one day out of boredom, I saw his stats and my jaw dropped. I realized the true monster this guy had the potential to be. Not to mention he reminds me of Black Dragon Kalameet and he looks damn cool. So obviously, I scrambled to build a team around him.

So I needed a partner in crime to form the second half of my offensive core. I chose zard y, because I felt that these 2 had the unique ability of making the opponent cry on switch-in. Both mons have a great amount of coverage, and stop a lot of the standard Hyper offensive threats. I've experienced this in the past, and honestly there is really no safe option when having to come in on either of these monsters. Plus dragons are cool looking.

So at this point, the obvious problem with my core was the fact that both mons were not a fan of rocks. My mind immediately went for the standard defog lati@s, but I've honestly grown tired of the set, and I didn't want to stack too many dragons on my team in fear of fairies. So enter Excadrill. He managed to pull me a neat little bundle. Not only could he spin away hazards my core hated, but he had the potential to fill a physical role, and he checked the fairies I feared. He also helped me with a switch-in to rock type attacks. However, I realized he would need support. To fill the role of sweeper he needed sand, and also, while he could switch in to rock type attacks, it wasn't his preference. So I slapped Hippowdon on the team. He added a wall to my team, as well as a rocker.

So before the addition of these guys, 3/4 of my team was looking hydrophobic (didn't like water attacks) so the first thing I needed was a bulky water type. I kicked around the idea of Azumaraill, but I've grown bored of running the same offensive teams, and I wanted to try my hand at balance. So I grabbed suicune. His stats made him a very capable switch-in to many physical and even special water attacks that my hippo(or any member of my team) wanted to avoid. Now the other issue I had was with both my walls Hippo and Suicune not liking grass type attacks. So I needed the mon in my utility slot to glue this team together and provide what I was missing. I found this in the form of ferrothorn.

Retired Team Members

Hellkite (Charizard-Mega-Y) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Ancient Power/Roar

I'm sad to say that one half of my core was knocked off the team so early, but it is a change that feels very necessary. The biggest issue I had with him is the overall lack of support. As Mur pointed out Zard Y needs a certain amount of support to break down a team, and my team was lacking it. Often times I had trouble switching him in, and when I did it was annoying that I lost sand. So he is being replaced by Zard X.

Currently Testing

• Air Balloon on Excadrill
• Bulky Will-o-Wisp set on Zard X
• Rocky Helmet on Ferrothorn
• Tweaking EV's on Suicune

Sinh (Charizard-Mega-X) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Dragon Dance

Welcome the new member of my team Zard X. While he may not praise the sun as the way ZardY does, he's definitely not a mon you want to sleep on (Dark Souls, Sinh the Slumbering Dragon, Anyone? It's alright, I know I'm funny, and that's what counts.) Terrible Dark Souls puns aside, he brings a solid win condition to my team as a sweeper whereas Zard Y was really only revenge killing or wall-breaking. Dragon Claw provides the mandatory stab without locking me into outrage for an easy revenge kill. Flare Blitz hits, and it hits hard, with perfect accuracy, you will be hard pressed to find something that wants to switch into this. Roost is a very sensible choice, not only does it help recover rocks damage, but it helps with the inevitable recoil from Flare Blitz spam. Dragon Dance makes Zard X the formidable sweeper he is. Simply getting Speed and Attack at +1 gives him the ability to sweep over half the meta-game.

Kalameet (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Roost/Outrage

The second half of my offensive core. With ridiculously powerful mixed stats and a damn good coverage complimenting zards, and an ability denying Sturdy this monster is hard to switch into. Whatever gets smacked is probably getting OKO'd and of the off chance whatever it is lives a 2HKO is guarenteed (unless you happen to be trying to hit something that walls it.)Ice beam provides the mandatory stab to smack Dragon, Ground, and Flying types. Thanks to Teravolt Earth power smacks not only the normal threats but things that would normally levitate over it such as Gengar and Rotom-W. Fusion Bolt, this move hits stupid hard with perfect accuracy, even things not weak to electric want to avoid getting slammed by this, also has the added bonus of making things with Volt absorb cry. The last move slot is in contention for me, and I've used both. On the one hand Roost means I can keep him an as a late game cleaner since the life orb damage normally drops him kind of low. Outrage gives him an instant win button in the late once all fairies are gone.

Tengen Toppa (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

The perfect partner to my core. Zard Y and Kyu B are not very fond of rocks, and my team lacked any physical sweepers, so Drill made tons of sense. Earthquake provides a high damage stab with great accuracy. Iron Head is another fantastic stab that hits the fairy type mons my team otherwise fears. Rock Slide hits all of the flying types (and destroys talonflame) that would otherwise switch in on him. Rapid Spin provides the vital hazard clear my team so desperately needed. He is my drill and he will pierce the heavens.

Harenam Murus (Hippowdon) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Toxic/Stone Edge/Whirlwind

If excadrill was going to fill any sort of sweeper/cleaner/revenge killer role, he needed sand support. So Hippo hopped on the team. He makes for a strong physical wall, and mixed defenses allow him to switch into a few special moves to refresh sand. I don't really think I need to go through the trouble of explaining his move sets since we all know how EdgeQuake and Rocks work. The more diverse options being Whirlwind for cycling out setup sweepers, and Toxic for whittling opposing walls. I've been preferring toxic as of late, combined with Ferro's Spikes, late game sweeping becomes much easier.

Aava (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Roar/Sleep Talk

So with most of my team up this point being weak to water, it was obvious I needed some sort of bulky water type/wall. I kicked around the idea of running AV for a while, but it just never quite made sense. So I said @!*# it and went for CroCune. It adds an alternate win condition, and it is bulky enough to switch in and start sleeping on them. For those of you that don't know, this set abuses suicunes natural bulk and sures up his SpDef with Calm Mind. He then proceeds to fire off Scald and keep the fun going with RestTalk. He can definitely sweep in the late-game. While the rest talk set was fun, I'm finding roar to be the overall more consistent option, and even without sleep talk, he can still sweep after a few calm minds.

Bed of Choas (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes/Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed/Protect
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Finally the mon in my utility slot, and the glue that holds this team together. As stated in the team-building process, the biggest issue I was having was the fact that both suicune and hippo, my walls were weak to grass attacks. I also wanted the mon to have utility my team needed. So I chose ferro as as another mixed wall and switch in to things. T-Wave provided me a way to handle setup sweepers and is just a really nice move to press on switch-in.(*Sidenote: I once 6-0'd someone by accidentally T-waving an espeon not realizing it would bounce. I then proceeded to 6-0 him with the world's most painful Gyro Ball.) Leech Seed lets him stay in on some threats longer and gives him another form of sustain. Alternatively Protect hurts M-Lopunny which I seemed to encounter a lot. Gyro Ball is a solid stab, and is super op if you accidentally thunderwave yourself xD(read sidenote.) Power Whip provides him an option to hit the water types you are probably switching into. At the suggestion of Mur I've been using Spikes over T-wave. While thunder wave was nice, spikes allow that vital bit of whittle that drill and zard-x need in order to sweep.

Importable

Sinh (Charizard-Mega-X) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Dragon Dance

Kalameet (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Roost

Tengen Toppa (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Harenam Murus (Hippowdon) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Toxic

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Roar

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

 

[Mur]

Hey man pretty nice team but I think I have a few suggestions to help you out a bit! The first big change I would make would be to swap zard-y for zard-x. Pursuit support is usually needed for zard-y to break down teams much more effectively and, while there is a way to add that on the team, it just feels a lot better to just switch y over to x on this build. With zard-x you know have the infamous zard+sand offense core which is extremely potent do to both of these threats beating away at the same checks. zard-x also gives you a nice secondary win con and a switch in for zard-y which ironically tears your core apart. I would just go with the standard dd roost + dual stab set but if you find a better alternative than by all means for it :] My next change would be to drop twave on ferro for spikes. zard-x+spikes is bad enough and throwing in sand driller at the end is a total nightmare to face. I don't see twave as much of a necessity as spikes especially after looking at the synergy spikes has on your team. Even the dreaded Msab that just comes in thinking it's going to reject said hazards comes in and gives zard a relatively free switch to start hammering through the opposition. All of this and the fact that you have a spinner makes spikes just look like a great addition to the squad. This next change is not necessary at all but since you like to have options (from what I've seen from your rmt!) you can put roar over sleep talk on cune. This is a pretty nice option for winning calm mind wars against clef or reuni and also pairs up pretty well with spike support as well. This is not something I consider necessary but if you want to try it out go for it! Overall nice team I'll be sure to leave my changes in the tab below. Good luck and I hope I helped n_n

Changes

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Dragon Dance

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Roar

 

[Æthereal Reaper]

Hey man pretty nice team but I think I have a few suggestions to help you out a bit! The first big change I would make would be to swap zard-y for zard-x. Pursuit support is usually needed for zard-y to break down teams much more effectively and, while there is a way to add that on the team, it just feels a lot better to just switch y over to x on this build. With zard-x you know have the infamous zard+sand offense core which is extremely potent do to both of these threats beating away at the same checks. zard-x also gives you a nice secondary win con and a switch in for zard-y which ironically tears your core apart. I would just go with the standard dd roost + dual stab set but if you find a better alternative than by all means for it :] My next change would be to drop twave on ferro for spikes. zard-x+spikes is bad enough and throwing in sand driller at the end is a total nightmare to face. I don't see twave as much of a necessity as spikes especially after looking at the synergy spikes has on your team. Even the dreaded Msab that just comes in thinking it's going to reject said hazards comes in and gives zard a relatively free switch to start hammering through the opposition. All of this and the fact that you have a spinner makes spikes just look like a great addition to the squad. This next change is not necessary at all but since you like to have options (from what I've seen from your rmt!) you can put roar over sleep talk on cune. This is a pretty nice option for winning calm mind wars against clef or reuni and also pairs up pretty well with spike support as well. This is not something I consider necessary but if you want to try it out go for it! Overall nice team I'll be sure to leave my changes in the tab below. Good luck and I hope I helped n_n

Changes

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Dragon Dance

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Roar

First off, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to actually read the post, and for replying. I completely agree with the swap to Zard X. I was too tired to post "closing thoughts/concerns" last night, but one of the things bugging me was how little zard did for me. He was a really good idea on paper, but in practice cune, kyu-b and driller did most of my sweeping.

As for the spikes, I'm honestly not sure why I never considered them. For some reason I think I dislike them, and that's why I never use them. But I actually don't recall ever using them, so I'm not sure why I think I dislike them(I also felt the same way about rapid spin prior to this team too.) I'll definitely try them out, they would just whittle down everything which every mon on my team likes.

 

[FlamingVictini]

Hey there,
This is a very nice team, and i completely agree with the suggestions of Mur, and i will build upon them with this rate.

: I personally prefer a specially defensive WoW set because it allows you to spread burns against stuff like garchomp and landorus-t and in general is very good with sand generally, while also giving u a more solid switch-in to AV Tornadus-t or stuff like Grass Knot Thundurus, which can be pretty annoying. This provides for better team support, but dragon dance is also good to provide a solid win condition.

: I prefer Roost to Outrage considering LO and potential sand damage that can quickly wear down KyuB. The only reason you should use outrage is if you have trouble breaking walls, and roar suicune + wisp zard is already good at stallbreaking.

: The team lacks any ground immunity as ZardX is weak to it once it mega's, and is not a good switchin to most grounds like chomp, lando-t, or hippo regardless. Although you can use your own hippo or suicune's general bulk to handle most of them, Swords Dance Lando-T or Garchomp can be extremely difficult for you to handle. Especially considering that spinning is important with your drill as you have a charizard and grounded team weak to spikes, i suggest Air Balloon > Life Orb. This provides a temporary ground immunity and you won't lose 10% of your health when you need to spin on a switch or something.

: For hippowdon all three of your listed options have good use on this team, although i personally prefer whirlwind unless you find yourself weak to Torn-T, where stone edge should help. Toxic is better I think if you choose to run DD ZardX because you can hit those aforementioned bulky grounds and wear them down.

Hope this helps, good luck with your team! ^_^

 

[Æthereal Reaper]

Hey there,
This is a very nice team, and i completely agree with the suggestions of Mur, and i will build upon them with this rate.

: I personally prefer a specially defensive WoW set because it allows you to spread burns against stuff like garchomp and landorus-t and in general is very good with sand generally, while also giving u a more solid switch-in to AV Tornadus-t or stuff like Grass Knot Thundurus, which can be pretty annoying. This provides for better team support, but dragon dance is also good to provide a solid win condition.

: I prefer Roost to Outrage considering LO and potential sand damage that can quickly wear down KyuB. The only reason you should use outrage is if you have trouble breaking walls, and roar suicune + wisp zard is already good at stallbreaking.

: The team lacks any ground immunity as ZardX is weak to it once it mega's, and is not a good switchin to most grounds like chomp, lando-t, or hippo regardless. Although you can use your own hippo or suicune's general bulk to handle most of them, Swords Dance Lando-T or Garchomp can be extremely difficult for you to handle. Especially considering that spinning is important with your drill as you have a charizard and grounded team weak to spikes, i suggest Air Balloon > Life Orb. This provides a temporary ground immunity and you won't lose 10% of your health when you need to spin on a switch or something.

: For hippowdon all three of your listed options have good use on this team, although i personally prefer whirlwind unless you find yourself weak to Torn-T, where stone edge should help. Toxic is better I think if you choose to run DD ZardX because you can hit those aforementioned bulky grounds and wear them down.

Hope this helps, good luck with your team! ^_^

Thanks for taking the time to rate my team. I'll have to try your changes, and then update my op when I am feeling less lazy. I do have some questions/concerns I guess. So a specially defensive will o wisp set on ZardX sounds interesting to me. If you are referring to the bulky will o wisp set, I've tried it once long ago, not really knowing how to use it. I'd really like to take a second stab at it since this team is a lot of firsts for me. Since the spread on Smogon is defensive as opposed to specially defensive, I'd appreaciate it if you can recommend a set. If not, I'll wing it.

As for roost over outrage, I'm inclined to agree at this point. When I was lower down on the ladder, it was easy to kill their fairy type then press outrage to receive my win, but the higher I climb, the more conscientious my opponents become to this.

Finally for airballoon over life orb, this one is honestly a hard call for me. I know one thing for sure, and that is my excadrill has won me so many games by the skin of my teeth by spamming some combination of dual stab for a 3+ mon sweep. I'm unfortunately not in the habit of calc'ing, so I actually don't know how much of his damage is overkill. I will try running him with air balloon for 20+ games and get a feel for it, since there has definitely been times where I know I would have preferred it.

I'll update my OP with changes later tonight.