XY OU Sticky Web Offense (with M-Heracross)

[Puzzle King]

Hi, Puzzle King here. This is my second OU RMT. Please leave your comments and suggestions below. Constructive Criticisms is always appreciated.

Ever since Mega Mawile got banned, I have been trying out several of Mega Evolutions that I have never tried before (Medicham, Gardevoir, Garchomp, etc). Of all the megas I tried, Mega Heracross impressed me the most. Armed with decent bulk, a whopping 185 attack stat and an amazing ability in skill link, Mega Heracross is very scary. So to compensate for the only bad stat that Mega Heracross has (excluding special attack, which is irrelevant), I decided to jump on the bandwagon and build a Mega Heracross-based team with Sticky Web support.So, without further ado, here's the team.

Shuckle @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 196 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Infestation

Shuckle is my lead and my Sticky Web setter. It has insane bulk and always gets at least one hazard out. Sticky Web is to lower the speed of grounded Pokemon that are coming in so that Mega Heracross can outspeed and deal with them. Stealth Rocks is to screw over flying types and make sure Talonflame, Charizard and Pinsir can't switch in freely. Encore and Infestation allow me to catch hazard setters like Smeargle and Galvantula off guard and set up freely against them.

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off

Bisharp is my check to Psychic types, my Defog 'Punisher' and my priority user. This used to be Weavile, but it was too frail and I didn't have something to hit fairies. With Bisharp, I can switch into Defog users and gain a +2 boost with Defiant and sweep. Iron Head and Knock Off are great STAB moves, Sucker Punch is self-explanatory priority and Pursuit is to trap and kill pokemon switching out, especially the Lati twins as Bisharp can come in on the Defog, gain the boost and kill them with Pursuit.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

This is the twist to my Sticky Web team. Choice Scarf Landorus is part one of my Volt-turn core. The two members of the core come in and weaken the opponent's team before Mega Heracross comes in and wrecks shop. Besides being the first half of my Volt-turn core, it is also my check to Bird Spam as Landorus can switch into most physical flying types and survive anything they use after the intimidate drop with ease and kill with Stone Edge. The moves are pretty self-explanatory, Stone Edge for Bird Spam and Ice type switch-ins, Earthquake for STAB, Knock Off because its the best move in Gen 6 (imo) and U-turn because.....you know.

Some calcs:
-1 252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Double-Edge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 243-286 (75.9 - 89.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 171-202 (53.4 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 180-213 (56.2 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 32 SpD/ 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball

Part 2 of my Volt-turn core. This thing is very underrated. With Assault Vest, this thing has decent special bulk and special attack. It checks Bird Spam (to an extent) and has great synergy with Lando-T as Thunderbolt deals with Landorus' water weakness while Lando-T is immune to Raikou's only weakness. Volt Switch because of Volt-Turn, Thunderbolt for STAB, Shadow Ball for coverage and HP Ice to hit Ground Types on the predicted switch in (especially Ground/Flying Types like Lando and Gliscor)

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Psyshock
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

Starmie has recently dethroned Excadrill as OU's premier rapid spinner after the Aegislash ban as it can kill OU's only relevant spinblocker effectively which Excadrill cannot (in some instances). I run a Spinner instead of a Defogger as Sticky Web and Stealth Rocks are very important to my win condition and I want them to remain on the field. Anyways, Starmie's moveset is a standard Life Orb Starmie set. Hydro Pump for STAB and to deal with Fire types, Psyshock for getting past special walls, Ice Beam to deal with Flying and Ground types and Rapid Spin for Hazard control.

Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Pin Missile
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

Finally, the monster himself, Mega Heracross. As mentioned earlier, this beast has a insane 185 base attack, as well as base 115 Defense and 105 Special Defense which allows it eat up hits that it isn't weak too. The set is simple. Rock Blast and Pin Missile to take advantage to Skill Link, Close Combat for STAB and Swords Dance to set up against Pokemon that can't touch Heracross.

Well, that's the team. It peaked around 1550+. Please leave your suggestions below. Thanks.

That's all for now
-Puzzle King

All changes will be in red. Thanks to all who rated my team and contributed.

Importable:

Shuckle @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 196 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Infestation

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Psyshock
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Pin Missile
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

Acknowledgements:
Gannex, littlelucario, Glaedrix, Geopolitics, alexwolf, pi3rate

 

[Gannex]

I really like this team, it takes advantage of Sticky Web very well. I have a few suggestions.

Mental Herb > Leftovers on Shuckle. Shuckle's main job is to set up the hazards, and taunt shuts it down completely. It still has the bulk to stick around. Mental Herb also stops Trick.

Bisharp is great on this team, and I really like the Black Glasses. You should switch the EVs from HP to Speed. Bisharp is very frail and even with that investment he still can't take hits. With the speed he can outrun most defensive mons and hit them with a powerful Knock Off.

Landorus-T looks good, but you could use a spread of 140 HP / 156 Atk / 212 Spe Adamant to take hits better and still outpace nearly everything. Also, it is slower than your set, so it will get the last U-turn and thus the switch advantage.

On Raikou you could run 252 SpA / 32 SpD / 224 Spe Timid to still outspeed Thundurus while taking better advantage of the Assault Vest.

Starmie can definitely work, but on a web team, Excadrill could be very potent as he will outspeed some of his checks.

Heracross should use Rock Blast over Bullet Seed. As it stands he is walled by flying types, and after an SD Bullet Seed is nearly useless because Pin Missile does enough damage.

 

[MANNAT]

i believe that heracross already has enough power and doesn't need to set up, so you should forego SD for rock blast especially because flyspam

 

[Rustyy]

Cross is terrible on Web Teams. Just think about it. Web doesn't affect flying foes. Cross gets OHKO'd by any flying attack.

Give Mental Herb to Shuckle.

Give Expert Belt to Raikou. This makes him a more reliable because he can OHKO stuff like Garchomp and Landorus which he can't do with Assault Vest. Its also good for bluffing choice specs.

 

[PixelPea]

I disagree in webcross, very viable imo. Tears everyhting up and its fast? Way too good

 

[Glaedrix]

Hey Puzzle King ! I think this is a great team as I myself use Mega Heracross in my OU teams. I have played a few matches with this team like 10 - 20 min ago. My suggestions are similar to the above posts :
1. Keep Mental Herb on Shuckle. He really doesn't need the Leftovers as in most cases for me he goes Sticky Web -> Stealth Rock -> Infestation and I switch out unless the opponent uses a stupid move (then I use Encore) without any trouble.
2. Remove Swords Dance on Heracross and keep Rock Blast. I use it for pokemon like Dragonite , etc.
3. Explosion > Knock Off on Landorus - T imo since I use it to get rid of pesky flying types very easily.

Hope this helps ! :)

 

[Geopolitics]

Hey, almost 100% certain that I hit this team a few times on PokeBattle. Whether it was you or not, I know the in's and out's of this team so I guess I'll drop a rate :3

1. Mental Herb > Leftovers to get webs up 100% of the time and Final Gambit > Infestation. This suggestion sounds gimmicky at best, but it actually has some utility. It's pretty rare that Shuckle needs to come in multiple times in a match to set up webs, and Final Gambit notably hits spinners/defoggers who try to come in on Shuckle for free, block the removal of hazards, and then allow a free switch to another teammate to successfully take down said defogger/spinner.

2. Assault Vest > Blackglasses on Bisharp. I used to love Blackglasses, but now since Lati's are running around w/ HP Fire, it becomes harder for Bisharp to reliably switch in. AV lets you switch in to any non HP Fighting Lati and can let you take stray HP Fire's from other Pokemon. The bulk you can get is surprising, and can help you keep your +2 boosts long enough to do some serious wallbreaking/trapping which can open lanes for m-cross to sweep.

3. Rock Blast > Bullet Seed on M-cross. Bulky water types are the least of your problems on your team. Raikou can pretty much beat all of them and other waters don't take kindly to a Mega Heracross' Close Combat. Rock Blast is great for hitting flying types (Zapdos, most notably) and can help cover one of Cross' big weaknesses.


That's all I've got, good luck with the team :]]

 

[alexwolf]

Hey Puzzle King, nice team you got there. Here are some minor changes you can do to improve it. First, use Mental Herb over Leftovers on Shuckle as a lot of people before me suggested, it will give a guaranteed layer of hazards against Taunt leads, such as Terrakion and Azelf, which is very useful and probably game changing in those matchups.

Second, change Bisharp's spread from max HP to max Speed, which allows you to outspeed everything up to base 108's, including very important Pokemon you now fail to outrun, such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Garchomp, Landorus, Mega Gardevoir, and Mega Medicham.

Third, use Superpower over Knock Off on Landorus-T. The reason is simple, +1 Mega Gyarados fucks up your team pretty badly, actually OHKOing everything with SR support. Your only way to play around it is try and weaken it with Landorus-T's Intimidate, which of course is a very risky and shaky plan. Superpower deals 79% damage minimum to Mega Gyarados, OHKOing it if it switched into SR and unMEvolved, or at worst leaving it as easy pickings for Bisharp. Also, Superpower helps against Air Balloon Excadrill, another big threat to your team.

Moving on, replace Bullet Seed with Rock Blast on Mega Heracross, otherwise Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Talonflame, Mega Heracross, Dragonite, and Mega Pinsir can easily switch into you and start threatening your team. Bullet Seed's coverage is mostly luxurious, while Rock Blast's coverage is essential.

Then, replace Pursuit with Low Kick on Bisharp, in order to OHKO opposing Bisharp. Currently, +2 Bisharp fucks up everything on your team outside of Mega Heracross, which can't even switch in outside of Sucker Punch, so Low Kick helps mitigate Bisharp's threat somewhat.

Finally, use Shadow Ball over Extrasensory on Raikou. This allows Raikou to OHKO Latios and Latias easier, meaning you get to keep Sticky Web up more often. Also, Shadow Ball 3HKOes Excadrill, which otherwise walls Raikou to hell and back and prevents it from using Volt Switch. The less free switch-ins you give to Excadrill the better, because LO Excadrill is a huge threat to your team, being able to easily remove Sticky Web with Rapid Spin and even outspeed and 2HKO everything on your team in sand and with Sticky Web, except from Scarf Lando-T, which is 2HKOed but not outsped. Extrasesnoy might be missed a bit against Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss, but Sand Rush Excadrill is a much bigger threat to your team.

Suggested changes:

Hide

Mental Herb > Leftovers on Shuckle
max Speed > max HP on Bisharp
Superpower > Knock Off on Landorus-T
Rock Blast > Bullet Seed on Mega Heracross
Low Kick > Pursuit on Bisharp
Shadow Ball > Extrasensory on Raikou

Good luck, hope i helped!

 

[pi3rate]

love the idea of having volturn on this team but i dont see av on raikou is going to be helpfull at all since gets 2 hit koed by almost anything and it wouldnt be able to ohko stuff when it needs too especially if you want to predict the garchomp switch in cuz it only has a 12.5% chance to OHKO it. So maybe belt or specs but thats just my opinion. and i dont see a need to run extrasensory especially when you have a starmie and a pin missile heracross maybe run and just to state out a obvious threat to this team it is going to be zard y that thing plow through your whole team so you pretty much gotta pressure there team to prevent spin/defog thats all i gotta say but your team is really cool and it looks presentable