Synchronize is one of my most succesful and effective teams that was originally built to play GTM for POWC. It was able to achieve an incredibly convincing win and then maintained itself as a very dangerous and solid squad, cementing it as one of my favorite builds of ORAS. This team incorporates many elements of Mega Scizor Bulky Offense that are nowadays commonplace and characterestic of the archetype, making it a noteworthy example of such teams.
This team is centered around Nidoking + Mega Scizor. Nidoking is a fearsome wallbreaker to face, with awesome power, good speed, and ridiculously diverse coverage options. Scizor is perhaps the best mon to pair with Nidoking, as it very effectively facilitates nidoking's work by generating momentum and free switches into mons that nidoking can punish and take advantage of. Scizor also covers a weakness to fast Psychic types that can revenge kill nidoking, starting the backbone of the teams defensive utility.
Rotom was a natural fit alongside Scizor and Nidoking since the typing and elements of volt-turn gel extremely well with the style of team that I was going for - bulky offense with a hard hitting breaker and strong momentum to facilitate breaking. This choice stood out very obviously to me as a natural continuation of the first two members.
I chose latios primarily to help handle keldeo, but it also checks a plethora of other mons and is crucial to my defense againt certain bulky CM'ers that could otherwise steamroll the team. Latios also has very good offensive presence and sweeping potential, which I valued over other defensive options.
I finally added Scarf Lando-T + Heatran to round off the team, as they both offer solid methods to counter huge threats to the previous 4 members (such as Serperior, Scizor, Garchomp, Zard-X, etc.) while giving me good speed and improved breaking capabilities.
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Earth Power | Sludge Wave | Ice Beam | Flamethrower
Nidoking is the centerpiece of the team and is designed to dismantle balanced builds, which usually lack a solid switch-in to this behemoth. Earth Power and Sludge Wave are its strongest STAB moves. Ice Beam is essential coverage to threaten slower Ground types like Landorus-T, Gliscor, or Tankchomp, and also nails numerous other mons like Latios or Amoonguss. Flamethrower is necessary coverage to hits steels such as Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Mega Scizor, allowing Nidoking to be more effective in defeating the diversity of balanced builds it may face. Timid gets the jump over a huge speed tier, outrunning max speed togekiss and also defensive talonflame that lack considerable speed investment, and is thus a more consistent option than a Modest nature.
Aside from being a very strong breaker, Nidoking has the ability to keep certain threats in check that might otherwise be able to run through the team with ease. Its role in defeating Gliscor and also immediately pressuring Clefable while also not giving freedom to steels is invaluable for the team, and perhaps no other breaker fits as well with the other five mons & sets as Nidoking does.
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 240 HP / 140 Def / 128 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
Bullet Punch | U-turn | Roost | Pursuit
Scizor is essential to Nidokings function, enabling it to break as well as it does. Scizor's pressure forces in many mons that Nidoking can take advantage of, primarily including Heatran and Defensive Lando, who are ubiquitous in the metagame and are scared out by Nidoking. These mons are often essential to the opponent's ability to handle something else on this team, so they are generally forced out. With accurate prediction or even just safe play Nidoking can deal a massive amount of damage throughout the game by continuously getting opportunities to attack on mons it can take advantage of, without losing health because of Scizor's support.
Because Scizor's role is built upon longevity, the set is designed in such a way that Scizor can maintain itself throughout the game without being forced to roost constantly, allowing for greater ability to bring in Nidoking. For example, when facing Gliscor, the best response is generall to go into Scizor and U-Turn into Nidoking. To be able to do this multiple times in the game, considerable bulk investment is necessary. Normally M-Scizor can utilize a spread of 248 HP / 124 SpD to avoid the 2hko from Mega Alakazam's Focus Blast. This benchmark can still be achieved with a spread of 240 HP / 128 SpD, allowing for 4 extra evs into defense. 240 HP / 140+ Defense is able to avoid the 2HKO from Choice Banded Azumarill, giving me much greater flexibility when playing against one. More importantly, however, the large amount of defense EVs in general makes scizor much more tanky and capable of reliably sponging hits from Mega Lopunny, Mega Metagross, Scarf Landorus, etc. 30 Speed IVs allow Scizor to get off a slower U-Turn vs opposing M-Scizor, creating the best position to choose a switch-in.
Pursuit was the last movechoice on the set so that dangerous Psychic types like Latios and Alakazam could be removed in order for Nidoking to have greater ease with breaking/sweeping, especially against slower balance builds that incorporate such mons as one of few sources of speed. Interestingly, it can also eliminate frailer or weakened mons like Dugtrio with smart play, allowing for greater flexibility and more options when attempting to break the opponents team. Swords Dance is also an incredibly solid option that allows Scizor to function as a lategame sweeper, and can also give it the ability to really strongly pressure mons such as Bold Clefable and Reuniclus, which can otherwise sponge an uninvested Bullet Punch or U-Turn respectively and possibly win in a 1v1. SD also gives greater flexbility when facing off against Bisharp, which is one of the greatest threats to this team.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Hydro Pump | Volt Switch | Will-O-Wisp | Pain Split
Rotom's role on the team pretty much speaks for itself. Its function in checking a plethora of mons while also gaining momentum off of them is invaluable. Rotom's ability to spread burns and take on most physical attackers in a 1v1 including Garchomp, Scizor, Bisharp, Sand Rush Excadrill, Weavile, Landorus-T, etc. is extremely useful and eases a great deal of pressure placed on Landorus-T (which is not running a defensive set). Its typing meshes extremely well with M-Scizor and Nidoking by taking advantage of mons that might otherwise pressure both of them out, such as Tornadus-T, or Water types like Keldeo or Starmie. It is a perfect pivot for bulky offense, and gels extremely well with most members of such teams.
The given EVs attempt to maximize Rotom's defensive bulky while also maintaining its ability to outrun mons such as Adamant Bisharp, Jolly Crawdaunt, or Jolly Azumarill, that might otherwise pose a problem to the team. Going for enough speed to outrun Jolly Bisharp is certainly a viable option, but it generally falls short for a few reasons. Most bisharp run adamant nowadays, the extra speed is otherwise generally useless, and the loss of bulk becomes extremely pronounced. General consistency is sacrificed to run so much speed, which simply isn't preferable, especially since it won't make that huge of a difference in many situations regardless.
Thunder Wave is also worth considering over Pain Split because it allows Rotom-W to check Charzard-X, preventing it from steamrolling my team. Pain Split, however, is again better in nearly every other scenario and is crucial to Rotom-W's longevity, which is paramount to role of checking multiple attackers and gaining momentum throughout the game. Thus, Pain Split is overall the more consistent choice.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Draco Meteor | Psyshock | Roost | Calm Mind
Latios is on this team for many reasons, but one of its most important functions is checking Keldeo, which is one of the most used and dangerous mons of this generation. Considering Keldeo's onmiprescence and Latios' general effectiveness as an offensive force in the metagame, it was a natural choice for the team. Although there are a few alternatives that can combat Keldeo, Latios' speed and raw power made it an ideal choice over more defensive options.
Perhaps the most important part of Latios' offensive role is Calm Mind. Most crucially, CM allows Latios to take on CM Reuniclus and Suicune, which otherwise steamroll through every other mon with ease. In other situations, CM is handy option that can turn latios into a scary sweeping machine, or just an extremely potent breaker that can even get past usual answers such as Tyranitar or Clefable in some cases.
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 228 Atk / 28 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Earthquake | Stone Edge | U-turn | Explosion
Landorus was chosen as the revenge killer of this team because its typing and Intimidate makes it capable of switching into numerous attackers if necessary, adding on to the defensive options available. Its access to U-Turn also adds greater flexibility when RK'ing and adds to the momentum aspect of this team. The given EVs ensure Landorus can survive a jolly neutral Flare Blitz from Charzard-X. The 4th moveslot is not critical to Landorus's function on the team, but Explosion was chosen due to its immediate power and ability to Revenge Kill mons that it otherwise may fail to KO with its previous three moves. Knock Off is a decent option, especially since no other team member carries it, and Superpower can give a convenient way to OHKO Lopunny and also hit Balloon Excadrill, but Explosion does offer safety against a greater variety of fast threats. Maximum Speed EVs allow Landorus to at worst speed tie with other Scarf Landorus (which often purposefully underspeed), allowing it to get off a faster explosion on the intended target if necessary.
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Stealth Rock | Magma Storm | Solar Beam | Taunt
Heatrans defensive role is primarily to set-up Stealth Rocks and also defeat Scizor, Serperior, Volcarona, and most Talonflame variants. It is also can loosely check Zards (although it is not a sturdy answer to either). More interesting, however, is Heatran's ability to pressure and possibly eliminate bulky waters such as Rotom-W, Defensive Starmie, or Slowbro, which can otherwise be a huge nuisance to nidoking. Magma Storm, although unreliable due to 75% accuracy, is extremely useful in trapping such mons in order to ensure a clean KO with a one-time Solar beam. It also makes setting up SR a much easier task to accomplish vs certain builds that otherwise try to dance around Heatran with mons like M-Sableye and/or Dugtrio. Taunt is the chosen 4th move because it is surprisingly useful and necessary to the general role of most heatrans, notably allowing Heatran to reliably take on Clefable (which otherwise wins 1v1 and can sweep with enough calm minds + flamethrower), Defog Latios, Talonflame, Volcarona, and also stall mons like Chansey. Earth Power is a decent alternative, notably allowing Heatran to actually damage Charizard-X (and thus check non-EQ variants), while also punishing opposing Heatran that attempt to set up a Stealth Rock of their own, but Taunt will be missed in a surprising number of scenarios.
Threatlist:
Interestingly, this team lacks a dark resist entirely. It instead relies upon Scizor's ability to sponge Knock Off and the pressure that Rotom, Lando, and Heatran can apply on common dark types. Although this is sufficient to cover most threats like Weavile and Crawdaunt, this leaves the team open to the more uncommon Hydreigon, which can spam dark pulse with ease, especially after coming in on slower mons. Bisharp is also an issue because it is the only Knock Off user that can reliably defeat M-Scizor (since it is forced out by its own U-Turn and lacks SD), and it can KO anything faster than it with a boosted sucker punch. In order to handle such threats, it is absolutely necessary to maintain pressure on these mons so that you can defeat them before they can defeat you / set up.
Because this team relies greatly on Latios to switch-in to Keldeo, the addition of pursuit trapping can naturally become problematic. This can be played around with conservative and smart play; Rotom can sponge an initial scald and gain momentum, allowing for more time and freedom to utilize Heatran. Solarbeam can lure and eliminate Keldeo, and SR can soften up TTar for latios. Since most Tyranitar are Choice Banded, they can be taken out with a +1 Draco Meteor after switching into SR twice.
Both Charizards are notably dangerous to this team in their own way. Zard-X in particular is capable of outright sweeping the team if it is packing eq or Heatran lacks Earth Power. The only way to avoid losing to it is to prevent it from setting up entirely, which is a difficult task. Thunder Wave on Rotom and/or Earth Power on Heatran considerably improve the odds against this demon. Zard-Y is in general difficult to switch into, and is nearly always paired with something that can pursuit trap Latios, which is the only real switch-in. Defeating Zard-Y requires hazard pressure, very smart switching and control over the flow of the game.
While this team may not have any great accomplishments on its own in the tournament scene, it has certainly left its mark through the archetype it embodies. The overwhelming popularity and consistency of Mega Scizor Volt-Turn Bulky Offense is something that will be unique and memorable to the era of ORAS OU. Before we look forward to the upcoming Sun & Moon release, I hope we can take a step back and appreciate the beautiful things this metagame has produced.
[importable]
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