The Sky is Falling! (A Hyper Offense Sky Battle Team)

On my Togekiss, what should I replace Aura Sphere with?


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Hello, hello! For those of you who don't know the n00b around town, I'm Itsame, and this is my second RMT. (My first one was buried in the remodel but whatever.) Now, with the new generation came a new official metagame: Sky Battles! It's really a refreshing break from the normal OU, and I decided to make a team on there. Once I started, I found that my team was pretty good, to the point of one guy even accusing me of hacking because I kept getting matched up against him and winning. The team has tipped the ladder at 1728, making me number 47. But without further ado: The team!

At a glance:



I started off by finding a good mega. Gyarados immediately came to mind, being a flying mon that could deliver extremely powerful attacks. Physical attacker: CHECK!


Next came Rotom-W. Being one of my favorite pokemon, in both competitive and casual play, I know my way around it. Being a potent special attacker, as well as giving me a valuable Ice resist, I just HAD to include him. Special attacker: CHECK!


At the moment, I didn't have a reliable dragon-slayer. With dragons making up a big part of the allowed pokemon in Sky Battles, I knew that since Azumarill wasn't a choice, Togekiss was my best bet, as well as sponging special attacks like a boss. Special sponge: CHECK!


I knew I needed at least a LITTLE support to stay afloat. Xatu was really the only thing I found that could prevent Stealth Rock from wrecking me, as well as kind of being a stop to Skarmory's shenanigans. He also provides a decent VoltTurn core with Rotom and Flygon. Supporter: CHECK!


Due to Gyarados' tragic lack of Dark-type moves (I COULD'VE SWORN IT HAD CRUNCH), I needed something to strike Bronzong and opposing Xatu hard and fast, but while also supporting the team a bit. It may not look it with its frail defenses, bar HP, but Drifblim makes a decent mixed wall with Stockpile, as well as providing its support with Will-o-Wisp. Supporter with Walling Potential: CHECK!


Now here's where it got complicated. Everything I found from here just didn't fit the team the way I'd like. At this point, I considered Bronzong here, but I felt that I had too many specially-based mons. In the end I filled the last slot with a reliable ground type: Flygon! I had a HUUUGE electric weakness, but with Flygon around, electric types like Zapdos and Rotom are afraid to spam Thunderbolt, lest they get immune'd and hit back with Stone Edge or Dragon Claw. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE. He can also sponge the extremely common Rock-Type attacks, which is nice. 2nd Physical Attacker/Sponge: CHECK!


Team in Detail:

Gyarados(M)@Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Adamant Nature
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
~Bounce
~Ice Fang
~Stone Edge
~Waterfall

I feel that Sky Battles are where Gyarados really gets to shine. My basic stratagy here is switch in on something non-threatning, intimidate for some bulk against physical mons, then attack away. I originally had Dragon Dance instead of Bounce, but I realized that he really never needs it because of that INSANE ATTACK. But I needed some Flying moves. At that point, Togekiss' Air Slash was my sole Flying-type move. On a Sky battle team. Let that sink in. Ice Fang is for use against the genies, Gliscor, and assorted dragons. 65 BP doesn't seem like much, but with a base 125 Attack, factoring in EVs, it even dents things that are neutral. Stone Edge is to check almost every single bird when Ice Fang won't cut it. I see how Waterfall could be replaced with Aqua Tail, but the flinch chance has saved me NUMEROUS times. As for the EVs, I'm using it to maximum sweeping potential, and believe it or not, 81 Base Speed outspeeds a lot.


Rotom-W@Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Modest Nature
4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Spe
~Hydro Pump
~Volt Switch
~Will-o-Wisp
~Thunderbolt

This is the set I usually use in OU, and works well in Sky Battles as well. At first glance, this may look like a special version of Gyarados, but don't be fooled. Rotom serves a completely different purpose, and he plays it well. Drifblim, Xatu, and to a lesser extent, Togekiss, like for Physical attackers to be crippled before they face off, and Rotom has the speed to fire off a WoW. He's my usual lead because of this. Hydro Pump is for physically defensive things that Gyarados may have problems against, like Gliscor. It may look strange to have Volt Switch and Thunderbolt on the same set, but they each do different things, to my advantage. Volt Switch is for emergency situations where I need an eject button, such as against opposing Rotom, which he really can't do anything against, whereas Thunderbolt is for when I need to stay in and take out things like Mega Aerodactyl. Volt Switch also allows him to maintain momentum, along with Xatu and Flygon.


Togekiss(F)@Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Modest Nature
252 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Spe
~Air Slash
~Aura Sphere
~Nasty Plot
~Dazzling Gleam

I went with the bulky route for Togekiss because I feel that it complements her respectable 85/95/115 defenses, as well as helps her fulfill her role of dragonslayer. Air Slash is her most powerful special flying STAB, which also goes hand-in-hand with Serene Grace. Aura sphere, however, I'm considering replacing with Thunder Wave, or maybe a somewhat gimmicky choice, Tri Attack. I know it's weird, but hear me out. With Serene Grace, Tri Attack has a 40% percent chance to Burn, Freeze, or Paralyze, all of which could help the team. Aura Sphere really doesn't bring much to the table in a tier full of flying-types, other than never missing, which doesn't amount to much since there's evasion clause, where Tri Attack takes advantage of Serene Grace, and has the same BP of Aura Sphere. I get that Thunder Wave would be more reliable, but that's what the Poll is for. Nasty Plot is for a bit of setting up on stuff that could bite back, like Weakness Policy Dragonite. Dazzling Gleam is there for Fairy STAB.


Xatu(M)@Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Gentle Nature
252 HP/4 SpAtk/252 SpDef
~Thunder Wave
~Psychic
~Wish
~U-Turn

A pretty standard Specially Defensive set. On a team loaded down with Flying-types, you're gonna need some kind of Stealth Rock prevention. The thing I like best about this set is that it brings a full stop to Skarmory, which can be a major problem in Sky Battles. Skarmory uses Stealth Rock. Predicting this, I switch to Xatu. Rocks are bounced back. Xatu uses Wish. Skarmory tries to kill Xatu with Brave Bird, but gets stopped about halfway to the 0% mark. Leftovers happens. Xatu uses Thunder Wave. Skarmory uses Brave Bird again, but Wish shrugs off the damage. At this point, Skarm starts trying whirlwind, but gets itself switched out. Whatever comes in then gets a U-Turn to the face. Along with that, Xatu can also pass 167 HP Wishes to the other members of the teams, which always heals about half their HP. Thunder Wave can stop fast sweepers and cripple almost anything. And for when something is at low enough health, Xatu can fire off a Psychic and pretty much dent anything that isn't Psychic or Dark. So he's a really solid supporter.


Drifblim(M)@Leftovers
Ability: Aftermath
Bold Nature
4 HP/252 Def/252 SpDef
~Shadow Ball
~Thunderbolt
~Will-o-Wisp
~Stockpile

Believe it or not. Drifblim has AMAZING walling potential, but people usually don't see it. HP is perfectly fine as is, so I didn't touch it in the EV'ing. With max EVs in each defensive stat, Blim effectively reaches almost 90 base Defense and Special Defense. This, coupled with a few Stockpiles, makes Blim a great mixed wall, even with his myriad of weakness (although those are all covered by other team members). Will-o-Wisp is for some extra physical bulk, as well as crippling those annoying physical attackers. Thunderbolt strikes nearly all birds hard, and Shadow Ball destroys opposing Xatu and Bronzong, as well as hitting nearly everything that doesn't resist it. Instead of the ever-common Destiny Bond, I figured, why use it when I'm not using an Acrobatics set? Drifblim has a pseudo Destiny Bond built right in: Aftermath. After taking a few hits from other team members, or some attacks from Blim himself, nearly everything will be in range to be KO'd by Aftermath if they get past his defenses, which alone is a pretty great feat.


Flygon(M)@Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Jolly Nature
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
~Crunch
~U-Turn
~Dragon Claw
~Stone Edge

Although while Gyarados is still up and running, Flygon doesn't have to do much, he brings something very valuable to the team: an immunity to Electric and a resistance to Rock. With his decent defenses and maybe a Wish from Xatu, Flygon can switch in on several common attacks in the meta, like Zapdos' Thunder and Aerodactyl's Stone Edge. Once he's in there, the enemy will think he's staying in, and I can just U-Turn out to something like Rotom. I went with Life Orb over Choice items because I can get the same boost without being locked into one move, which could be a problem if I need to U-Turn out. Other than that, he has a pretty standard Offensive set.

Threats:
Rotom-W: Aside from brute force, the team doesn't have anything to hit Rotom-W with that could kill it without some kind of sacrifice. Despite this, I haven't had TOO much of a problem with Rotom.

Thundurus-T: The only thing that has ever 6-0'd my team. Although it's pretty rare, with people going in favor of Zapdos, but Thundurus is faster than anything I have at my disposal, and can strike down everything with thunderbolt, and if it's not choiced, HP Ice can OHKO Flygon.

Will post more when I think of them.

Well, that's the whole team! So far, I think it's been doing well, but I need something to put it over the top, so fire away and give me your suggestions.
 

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Hi there!

I don't play Sky battles that much but I used to play a lot so I can critique you!

I must say, this is a very good and solid team. My only nitpick though is Mega Gyrados. Mega Gyrados can only hit opponents that you already have no problem with te help of Rotom and Flygon so here's my idea. Instead of Mega Gyrados, why not Mega Aerodactyl?

Mega Aerodactyl could be the missing piece of this team. It gets more speed and more attack upon Mega evolution, it can set up stealth rock and it can taunt things like Togekiss and Thundurus -T to shut down Nasty Plot set up, something that this team is weak to. It can also taunt other Stealth Rockers before they can set up SR with that amazing speed and it hits just as hard, it not harder with Stone Edge thanks to that boosted attack. Not to mention, Aerodactyl can learn Ice Fang as well.

As for Togekiss, your best option is T-Wave. Yes Tri Attack has a 40% chance to burn, freeze OR paralyze the opponent, but that is still pretty rare. And you need to paralyze things that threaten your team like Mega Aerodactyl.

Hope this helps!
 

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