ORAS OU The Black King & Queen (1400 & climbing)

[Kovu-Cat]

Yo what is up guys it's your boy KovuCat coming at you with what is only my second RMT. My first was a crappy sticky web team back in the middle of X&Y and i've learnt quite a bit since starting back then. Please, when you're reading this try to remember that I made this on a rainy day off work, so no hate or anything, just constructive criticism :P Just a quick shout out to pokeaim for his video on competitive battling, really helped out with some of this stuff.

The SQUAD

Black Queen (Gardevoir) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

I've been playing around with different megas and this is the bae that I finally settled on. With her massive SpA and all round other good defensive stats, I figured the Queen would be a good mega to build my team around. Fairy and Psychic is an amazing typing and with the coverage moves that she has she has the ability to eliminate loads of threats. Common threats that I encounter are heatran, ferrothorn, M-Metagross and pretty much any other meta-steel type. She handles pretty much all of them well except for M-Metagross, but I have other teammates to deal with that. So yeah, Hyper voice for amazing STAB once we mega and get that pixilate boost, thing hits like a truck. Shadow ball for other psychic types and getting damage on metagross on a switch (may think of changing this to energy ball as my team lacks a grass move). Focus blast to hit the pesky steels and psyshock for added STAB and to fuck with Chansey and Blissey. I'm unsure on the EV's because i've never used her before so I just took what showdown suggested, someone help with fixing that up pls.

Black King (Greninja) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Low Kick

The black king is a brilliant partner for the Queen as he is for most teams. Protean with this things amazing SpA and Spe makes this one of the biggest threats to todays meta-game and ony has a few checks (scarf-lando, M-Lopunny) etc. The versatility of its move set is what led me to put it on my team. Gunk shot is there to destroy and fairy type that thinks that they can switch in to this death frog. Dark pulse for psychic types, ice beam for flying/ground/dragon types (looking at you Latios) and low kick puts in work agaisnt SpD Heatran and Ferrothorn, which are two huge threats to my bae the black queen. EV's are positioned to utilize what i've got based on moves, 40 attack is enough to deal with the threats that my physical moves are there for while also not taking too much away from his SpA. Life orb is pretty obvious, 1.5x plus STAB = Death.

Pullin yo Ferro (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Magnezone was put on the team to rid this earth of any steel type like scizor that isn't backing CC, and send them straight back to hell. Volt switch and thunderbolt are arguably the best electric type moves, and volt switch added to lando's u-turn builds a nice little core. Flash cannon shits on anything that doesnt resist it (FU Clefable) and HP fire combined with magnet pull is a killer to any steel that isnt heatran :) ev's are to maximise hitting power and also add some bulk so I can tank a hit or two, suggestions of other spreads would be greatly appreciated. I chose the Specs variant because I found if it was scarfed then it wasn't hitting hard enough for my liking.

Scars (Skarmory) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Counter
- Whirlwind

Skarmory is probably the main pokemon that I would be willing to change. At the moment I only have it to set up rocks and try and deal with conk. I find that this poke doesnt really contribute much to the team but in the mean time it can stay. Rocks are essential for any team hence why I needed a setter, roost is there for longevity obviously. Counter with sturdy usually results in a KO and any conk tryna get rid of me falls to rocky helmet and counter damage. Whirlwind is a nice little move to gain some momentum on a switch in or just to mess with my opponent. EV's are showdown suggested, work ok at the moment.


Intimidation (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Lando-T is S rank for a reason, and thats why he's on the team. He is usually my lead and most people expect the lefties rock set, so I get a few surprise u-turns on opposing greninja and what not, which helps heeeeaps. Knock Off gets rid of items and deals damage, what more could you ask for? Mainly use knock off to revenge kill a gengar that my team struggles to deal with. Earthquake is there to deal with fire and electric types, plus the STAB hits hard on anything neutral. Stone Edge is there for bird spam, and doubled with intimidate, ends up helping out a lot in the long run. EV's are to hit hard and fast, just how the missuses likes it. Jolly over Adamant for XXXXtra speed.

SO META (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock

Latios is pretty much always on my teams and for good reason. The thing can defog away hazards and also hit things super hard. Honestly is still amazes me how much a draco from this thing can do. With the added life orb boost it decimates alot of frail teams. Levitate is an added bonus as that gives me 3 ground immuntites which can help with the preservation of Magnezone. Psyshock shits on chansey and azumarill and surf helps me get rid of heatran, although I would be willing to swap this out for another coverage move (suggestions?) EV's make it hit hard and fast once again, kind of a theme for this team. 350 speed means it pretty much outspeeds most of the unboosted and unscarfed OU tier, which is really beneficial when you think about it.

So yeah, this is the team, please do rate it/give me suggestions as I would like to continue climbing with this team. Thank you :)

 

[HydrADE]

Hey, nice team you have here! I'll leave just a quick rate with a few suggestions that might improve your team. First of all, young should really change Gardevoir's spread to a Timid 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe: this will allow her to be just 2HKOed by Life Orb Latios' Psyshock, allowing her to check him better whike not missing any OHKO/2HKO. Moreover, I would change Shadow Ball to Will-O-Wisp, as burning opposing Scizor and Metagross switch-ins is way better than the coverage offered by Shadow Ball. On Greninja, I'd just like to point out that Life Orb boosts 1.3x, not 1.5x. Onto Skarmory, I would either go for Brave Bird + Whirlwind set or a Counter + Taunt set, as these are the best ways to fully exploit Skarmory's potential. In addition, change his nature from Bold to Impish to get more firepower on Brave Bird, and this nature is generally the preferred one. You could also want to try Ferrothorn in that spot, just look up for the Utility set on Smogon's Competitive Dex. For Landorus-T, you might appreciate using a Jolly 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe set, as while you still outspeed max invested base 145 such as Beedrill-Mega or Sceptile-Mega, you get slightly more bulk and you outslow most opposing Landorus' U-Turn, providing much more momentum. Finally, looking at Latios, you might want to run either Thunderbolt or Earthquake instead of Surf: both allow you to hit more relevant targets, as the former hits bulky water for good damage, while the latter heavily dents the likes of Heatran, Tyranitar, Bisharp and Metagross as they try to switch in. These little changes should improve your team, or at least I hope so. I'm going to test it more deeply as soon as possible. Greetings,

Ade

 

[Der Twist]

Yes, Skarm is quite disposable. He lacks any and all forms of offensive presence and is usually better for stall and more defensive teams. You are right though in that you need a lead, my thoughts are replace Skarm with Ferro. He offers you a good defensive presence while still being enough of a threat to various things like opposing Gardevoir which he can live a Focus Blast from and one-shot with Gyro Ball. This does leave you with a somewhat hefty Fire weakness and I think you can dispose of Mag too for a late-game sweeper which you seem to lack. SD Talonflame can shut down Ferro and Scizor too, as well as generally clean up late game and punch holes like no-one's business. It also gives you a good F/W/G core with Ferro and Gren (if you count Gren as a Water type). Something else to add, replace Shadow Ball on Gardevoir with Taunt, it's good against stall teams and walls by forcing them to fight on her terms offensively, a fight she'll win with her ridiculous offensive prowess, this leaves you with a much easier time clearing up with T-Flame at the end of it all. And yeah, HydrADE ninja'd me to this so I'll back him up and say he's got the right Gardevoir set for you. Hope this helps. Good luck, man.

Sets

Ferrothorn @ Shed Shell / Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance

 

[HydrADE]

I'll summarize my suggestions:

- Gardevoir-Mega = Will-O-Wisp over Shadow Ball because burning her possible switch-ins is always good, should they be Steels or Poisons. Taunt is a possibility to avoid Spore, deal with Stallbreaker Mew, stop slow set-ups and generally mess your opponent's strategy. Keep in mind that she is rather frail and Chansey isn't killed that easily, thus I think Will-O-Wisp suits the team better.

- Skarmory = well, the two sets only have two different ways of dealing with setup sweepers. Taunt + Counter will force them to attack, while Whirwind + Brave Birds just phaze them away while hitting hard any Fighting type. Note that taunt on a "fast" wall such as Skarmory is hella good against things like Ferrothorns and so on. Also, do not reveal Counter too early in the game.

- Ferrothorn = this could help your team by providing more useful resistances, as well as the much needed Grass move and Thunder Wave support. The EVs are the same as always, just Utility Ferro. If running Shed Shell use Protect, since it will allow you to get passive recovery from Leech Seed.

- Latios = perhaps the most useful change, you should go with either one of those sets, depending on what threatens your team. 29 HP IVs minimize Life Orb recoil, and 24 Atk on the EQ set ensure the OHKO on specially defensive Heatran. Earthquake also deals well with specially defensive Jirachi.

Suggested changes

Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp / Taunt

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet / Shed Shell / Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Counter
- Roost

OR

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet / Shed Shell / Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
- Roost

OR

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers / Shed Shell
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave / Protect
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Defog

OR

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog

P.S.: As a note to what Der Twist said (great rate as always man, I would have never thought of Talonflame!), if you decide to give up Magnezone then consider running HP Fire on Latios, to clean the way from unsuspecting Ferrothorns while still hitting the likes of Skarmory, Jirachi and so on.

Good luck :3

Ade​

 

[Der Twist]

- Gardevoir-Mega = Will-O-Wisp over Shadow Ball because burning her possible switch-ins is always good, should they be Steels or Poisons. Taunt is a possibility to avoid Spore, deal with Stallbreaker Mew, stop slow set-ups and generally mess your opponent's strategy. Keep in mind that she is rather frail and Chansey isn't killed that easily, thus I think Will-O-Wisp suits the team better.

That's debatable. Nothing offensive really wants to switch directly in to Gardevoir because Hyper Voice does so damn much, even defensive things have a hard time switching in directly, but that's what you'll see more of that you can actually handle, defensive things that try to stall you out (and Ferro), if something offensive switches in then it's a good bet they can outspeed you and get the 2HKO or OHKO anyway. Chansey is 3HKOed by Mega Gardevoir, assuming you haven't Knocked Off her Eviolite, so your opponent will have to sac their Chansey to get a chunk of damage off against you, and nothing besides Lando really can deal with Chansey otherwise. Offensive threats are better off killed either on the switch, send in something faster or bulkier that can kill it (and Gardevoir isn't super speedy or bulky), or wall it and wear it down, so your bet for offensive threats is outspeed and kill with Gren, or stall with Ferro; Gardevoir is a wall-breaker.
...Come to think of it, Ferro/Skarm look like the only remotely defensive things on your team, your Latios doesn't even have Roost, it is full offence with Defog. This is a hyper offensive team with a Skarm stuck in the middle. Alright, this might take a bit more then. What sort of playstyle do you really want to try and work with, full hyper offence or balanced? This team can head either way with a few tweaks, but it seems very patchwork atm. Previous suggestions for different Pokemon might not work depending on your playstyle so it might be better building on that to give your team some better synergy.

 

[Kovu-Cat]

I'll summarize my suggestions:

- Gardevoir-Mega = Will-O-Wisp over Shadow Ball because burning her possible switch-ins is always good, should they be Steels or Poisons. Taunt is a possibility to avoid Spore, deal with Stallbreaker Mew, stop slow set-ups and generally mess your opponent's strategy. Keep in mind that she is rather frail and Chansey isn't killed that easily, thus I think Will-O-Wisp suits the team better.

- Skarmory = well, the two sets only have two different ways of dealing with setup sweepers. Taunt + Counter will force them to attack, while Whirwind + Brave Birds just phaze them away while hitting hard any Fighting type. Note that taunt on a "fast" wall such as Skarmory is hella good against things like Ferrothorns and so on. Also, do not reveal Counter too early in the game.

- Ferrothorn = this could help your team by providing more useful resistances, as well as the much needed Grass move and Thunder Wave support. The EVs are the same as always, just Utility Ferro. If running Shed Shell use Protect, since it will allow you to get passive recovery from Leech Seed.

- Latios = perhaps the most useful change, you should go with either one of those sets, depending on what threatens your team. 29 HP IVs minimize Life Orb recoil, and 24 Atk on the EQ set ensure the OHKO on specially defensive Heatran. Earthquake also deals well with specially defensive Jirachi.

Suggested changes

Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp / Taunt

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet / Shed Shell / Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Counter
- Roost

OR

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet / Shed Shell / Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
- Roost

OR

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers / Shed Shell
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave / Protect
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Defog

OR

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog

P.S.: As a note to what Der Twist said (great rate as always man, I would have never thought of Talonflame!), if you decide to give up Magnezone then consider running HP Fire on Latios, to clean the way from unsuspecting Ferrothorns while still hitting the likes of Skarmory, Jirachi and so on.

Good luck :3

Ade​

Hey dude, thanks heaps for the time and effort that you put into helping me out :) i'm about to use some alts to test out each suggestion on the spreads that you offered so I can find what works best and then jump on my main acc and continue to ladder :D I changed the EV spread on Gardevoir and changed shadow ball to will-o-wisp for the time being :) I'm thinking of putting in ferro over skarm and using the thunderwave set, because gardevoir being out-sped is a problem for me :/ the EV's on lando sound like they'll help alot, because I crave that momentum and is kinda the way I play, cheers for that! I'm going to run the equake latios set because heatran is something I always struggle with :o once again, thanks for the help, and when I make the changes i'll update the RMT and give you credit accordingly :) thank you so much :D

That's debatable. Nothing offensive really wants to switch directly in to Gardevoir because Hyper Voice does so damn much, even defensive things have a hard time switching in directly, but that's what you'll see more of that you can actually handle, defensive things that try to stall you out (and Ferro), if something offensive switches in then it's a good bet they can outspeed you and get the 2HKO or OHKO anyway. Chansey is 3HKOed by Mega Gardevoir, assuming you haven't Knocked Off her Eviolite, so your opponent will have to sac their Chansey to get a chunk of damage off against you, and nothing besides Lando really can deal with Chansey otherwise. Offensive threats are better off killed either on the switch, send in something faster or bulkier that can kill it (and Gardevoir isn't super speedy or bulky), or wall it and wear it down, so your bet for offensive threats is outspeed and kill with Gren, or stall with Ferro; Gardevoir is a wall-breaker.
...Come to think of it, Ferro/Skarm look like the only remotely defensive things on your team, your Latios doesn't even have Roost, it is full offence with Defog. This is a hyper offensive team with a Skarm stuck in the middle. Alright, this might take a bit more then. What sort of playstyle do you really want to try and work with, full hyper offence or balanced? This team can head either way with a few tweaks, but it seems very patchwork atm. Previous suggestions for different Pokemon might not work depending on your playstyle so it might be better building on that to give your team some better synergy.

Thanks for the suggestions, any bit of help is much appreciated :D yea I like to play HO so skarm was a bit of a misfit :[ finding something to change skarm to that kinda provides the same coverage and usage as well as having some offensive presence is what i'm after :) that talonflame suggestion is magic in my eyes, I lacked a late game sweeper and I love a bit of bird spam. At the moment i'm testing him out by subbing him in for magnexone and so far so good, cheers for that :D so yeah, if you could help with the skarm problem i'll be for ever thankful, pls do get back to me :D cheers

 

[Der Twist]

No problem, man. In which case I'd stick with my suggestion of either Ferro or maybe throw in offensive Rock setter Heatran. I'm not all that sure about T-Wave, you have a pretty speedy team as it is and it's mainly Gardevoir's job to break walls and Lando's job is to teach those cheeky pricks that try setting up to not do that, any offensive threat that switches in on Gardevoir is probably done with the assumption that they can take a Hyper Voice; if you want a speedy Fairy then try Mega Diancie (the shiny version of her is black too so it won't mess up your name :P ). Still, it might be good for crippling offensive threats to make them easier to pick off, although it would make your Gyro Balls less effective. You could try a Curse set, same spread as suggested only with Curse wedged over another move, that might be fun. I don't know, play around and see what works.
Offensive lead Heatran is pretty much what it says on the tin. It would mess your F/W/G core, but that's not important since Gren can barely be called by a type. It would let you murder Scizors and Ferros effectively and let you run U-Turn on Talon over Flare Blitz for momentum if you're using him for some revenging or hole-punching earlier on. Either option is good, neither brings any weaknesses that your team can't cover well enough anyway aside from possibly opposing Landos, and far that I'd recommend HP Ice to catch them on the switch. All-in-all though, I'd bank more on Ferro since you are running a tad heavy on the special attackers so Ferro balances your team out much better.
Hope this helped too, man. Good luck. :]

Sets

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest Nature
- Lava Plume
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Ice
- Stealth Rock

I wasn't completely serious with this suggestion since it does make you more susceptible to Lando and Rotom-W, but it's worth listing regardless:

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Timid / Naive Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Fire

Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest / Rash Nature
- Rock Polish
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power

 

[Kovu-Cat]

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[xJownage]

Main thing for me is Taunt > Shadow ball on garde. You need garde to really break stall, and taunt is one of the best ways to do that. Shadow ball doesn't do much for you besides 2hko SDef rachi, which is one of the mons stall teams use to beat garde, however rachi will ohko you back, deeming that irrelevant. Without taunt, Heatran can cause some problems, coming in and getting off a toxic. Several other mons can come in and status you, and garde doesn't just beat stall teams outright; it NEEDS longevity (this is the main reason I am using a Garde + Bisharp core atm to trap rachi), and if it gets toxic'd its done. This would also mean you have to rely on focus blast's shaky accuracy to beat heatran while it poisons you, so there is another problem. One focus miss later and you've taken 3 turns of toxic damage (protect).

I have also found max speed garde to be better for the most part, however its dependent on your tastes. 252 speed lets it do a bit more work against offensive teams, and lets it beat up on some of the more bulky offensive teams since they aren't all that fast.

Surf latios just isn't that good in my experience. The only thing it hits, really, is heatran. Ferrothorn, Heatran, Skarmory, and Bisharp are common switchins to latios, and so running either hidden power fire or earthquake really helps with them. I generally opt for earthquake, since tran is so common and you do have a mag for ferro/skarm whereas you can't trap tran if it predicts right, but this is generally up to preference. Either way, Surf just isn't that good of a move on Latios.

Uniform change: Change most of your mons from 252 HP or 4 HP to an odd number, leaving you less SR damage. For garde, even if you keep the bulky set, make it 248 HP, and do the same for skarm and mag; move latios' and lant's 4 HP evs into Defense. Its a minor nitpick, but can be important and is something you should remember.

Good team, I have been building around garde-m for a while now since it obliterates many stall teams with little support (and fuck mega sableye) and you have done a decent job with anti-offense.