Intro
Hello Smogon! I've been wanting to do this for a long time so I'm finally gonna go for it. When building teams, I get an especially huge thrill from successfully using some of my favorite Pokemon despite some of their low viability in the OU tier. Upon the first day of Mega Steelix's reveal, I knew I wanted to build a team around it and its fantastic design. I decided that the best way to utilize Mega Steelix was as a bulky attacker that can reliably set up hazards as well! I also found that Mega Steelix's combination of bulk, power, and coverage made it a pretty nice fit for a Trick Room team! So I went ahead and built a fairly competent Trick Room team around one of my favorite megas, Mega Steelix. It is by no means a great team. It gets worn down fairly easily and many times requires aggressive playing to really perform well. However, it can catch people off guard, and it is a LOT of fun in my opinion! Let's hop into the squad. :)
YOUTUBE BUILDING VIDEO:
Team In Depth Analysis
Steelix-Mega Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Def
Nature: Brave
IVs: 0 Speed
-Stealth Rock
-Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang/Stone Edge
Look at that design. So damn cool. Despite being for the most part inferior to Mega Camerupt under Trick Room and Mega Aggron in general, I found that Mega Steelix is actually somewhat underrated and even possesses a few tricks up its sleeve. As shown by Excadrill, Steel/Ground STAB can be very effective in the OU meta. The reason I opted for Heavy Slam over Gyro Ball is because Mega Steelix is so absurdly heavy that Heavy Slam is pretty reliably at its full 120 BP as opposed to Gyro Ball being much less consistent and only having 8 PP. Earthquake hits nearly everything that resists Heavy Slam for solid damage. I originally used Stone Edge for flying types like Zapdos, Gyarados, and Talonflame, but I found that Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn were exceptionally difficult for my team to handle, so I had slightly more success using Fire Fang. I often lead with Steelix because it can set up rocks, hit taunters or opposing hazard setters very hard, and also because of how difficult it is to OHKO. Its massive physical bulk, even when un-invested, allows it to take on the majority of physical attackers. Lastly, it cleans up unprepared teams surprisingly well.
Cresselia (F) @Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Def/ 8 Sp Def
Nature: Relaxed
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Trick Room
-Moon Blast
-Moonlight
-Lunar Dance
Cresselia is the premier Trick Room setter of the team. There may be more optimal EV spreads out there, but the one I used worked well enough. Mental Herb is essential as it allows me to lead against taunt users and still set up TR. Her massive physical bulk allows her to eat up hits from threats as powerful as Bisharp and M-Metagross and reliably set up Trick Room multiple times per game. Moonblast is for chip damage, Moonlight to aid me in setting up more Trick Rooms, and Lunar Dance is one of the key moves of the team, allowing me to fully restore one of my heavy hitters and clean teams up.
Crawdaunt Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Def
Nature: Brave
IVs: 0 Speed
-Crabhammer
-Knock Off
-Superpower/Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet
The star of the team. This monster deals huge damage to EVERYTHING that is not Chesnaught. Adaptability plus very high powered stabs, good coverage in Superpower plus priority in aqua jet allows Crawdaunt to put major dents in teams. A little playful prediction with this thing has many a time put me in a great position to win. I opted for Superpower over Swords Dance for an immediate way to deal heavy damage to Keldeo, and reliably knock out mons like Heatran and Bisharp reliably without having to rely on Crabhammer's 90% accuracy. Crawdaunt is in my opinion the most threatening Pokeon under Trick Room and is usually the one I look to pass a Lunar Dance to.
Porygon2 eviolite
Ability: Download
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Sp Def/ 8 Sp Atk
Nature: Sassy
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Trick Room
-Recover
-Ice Beam/Thunderbolt
-Tri Attack/Thunderbolt
Porygon2 and its incredible special bulk allows it to tank hits extremely well and set up Trick Room multiple times a game like Cresselia. People usually use more offensive P2 sets on Trick Room teams, but being that my team is relatively frail and that ORAS has brought a plethora of powerful new threats, I opted to maximize its special bulk to better compliment Cresselia. Download helps P2 have slightly better offensive presence. Tri Attack deals solid damage and Ice Beam wrecks the ever common Landorus I/T, Gliscor, Garchomp, and even Dragonite. Thunderbolt + Tri Attack allows P2 to not be walled as hard by Steel types and Tbolt + Ice Beam provides the coveted boltbeam coverage.
Dragalge @Choice Specs/Life Orb/Assault Vest
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Sp Atk/ 8 Sp Def
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Draco Meteor
-Sludge Wave
-Focus Blast/Scald
-Scald/Hidden Power Fire
So recently I've preferred assault vest on Dragalge because I lacked switch-ins for Charizard Y. Also, the ability to switch moves is useful in winning the mind games that naturally occur when my opponent is sporting the ever common Dragon/Fairy/Steel core.
This thing is a monster with Adaptability. Choice Specs is the preferred item as the extra power allows Dragalge to maul nearly everything that isn't a Fairy Type. The issue with Dragalge is that its dual STAB Dragon/Poison is completely ineffective against Fairy and Steel respectively, causing unnecessary mind games on which move to use. Life Orb helps fix this problem, but as I mentioned earlier, this team is easily worn down by the likes of entry hazards and lack of reliable recovery on 60% of the team members. Without Dragalge, the team is very weak to Specs Keldeo, which is another reason I feared taking Life Orb recoil over Choice Specs. When using Dragalge, you're mostly going to be mindlessly clicking Draco Meteor and sometimes Sludge Wave. Dragon Pulse can help sweep but Focus Blast and Scald add nice coverage and allow Dragalge to get a solid hit on teams with Fairy and Steel cores.
Cofagrigus Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Sp Atk/ 8 Def
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Trick Room
-Nasty Plot
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond/ Will-o-Wisp/ Hidden Power Fighting
The offensive Trick Room user of the team. +2 Cofagrigus is pretty scary as normal type is uncommon in OU bar Chansey. Cof can reliably set up Trick Room once a game and put some offensive pressure on opposing teams with Nasty Plot + Shadow Ball + Destiny Bond. Destiny Bond is the preferred option in the last slot as it has gotten me many important KO's on unprepared opponents. Also, Mummy can be a surprisingly useful ability against the likes of Scizor, Azumarill and many Megas such as Altaria, Pinsir, and the uncommon Glalie which are all greatly hindered by the Mummy ability.
Importable (EDITED TO CURRENT VERSION)
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 20 Spe
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Tri Attack
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Trick Room
Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 2 Spe
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Trick Room
Dragalge @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast
Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
- Moonblast
Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Conclusion
So there's the team! Once again, I am not claiming that it's a great team, or even a good one. It's just a fun team and play style built around one of my favorite Megas that can hold its own and catch players off guard. I'm not sure if I will use this team much any more, but regardless, feel free to leave any feedback you'd like as I'd love to improve this team for my own use and mainly for anyone else who may have any interest in using it! Really hope you enjoyed. :)
Proof of my peak at #8
-My goal was breaking the top 10 so I didn't bother trying to ladder any higher.
Oh yea! Here are some replays to showcase how the team works!
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ubers-53386 -vs. The legendary Style in the semi finals of the Suspect Tournament (Swapped Cof for Reuniclus in this one)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ou-33695 - An SPL Farm League game
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-211487592 - Ladder Battle (Very aggressive play on turn 14 ;] )
Hello Smogon! I've been wanting to do this for a long time so I'm finally gonna go for it. When building teams, I get an especially huge thrill from successfully using some of my favorite Pokemon despite some of their low viability in the OU tier. Upon the first day of Mega Steelix's reveal, I knew I wanted to build a team around it and its fantastic design. I decided that the best way to utilize Mega Steelix was as a bulky attacker that can reliably set up hazards as well! I also found that Mega Steelix's combination of bulk, power, and coverage made it a pretty nice fit for a Trick Room team! So I went ahead and built a fairly competent Trick Room team around one of my favorite megas, Mega Steelix. It is by no means a great team. It gets worn down fairly easily and many times requires aggressive playing to really perform well. However, it can catch people off guard, and it is a LOT of fun in my opinion! Let's hop into the squad. :)
YOUTUBE BUILDING VIDEO:
Team In Depth Analysis
Steelix-Mega Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Def
Nature: Brave
IVs: 0 Speed
-Stealth Rock
-Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang/Stone Edge
Look at that design. So damn cool. Despite being for the most part inferior to Mega Camerupt under Trick Room and Mega Aggron in general, I found that Mega Steelix is actually somewhat underrated and even possesses a few tricks up its sleeve. As shown by Excadrill, Steel/Ground STAB can be very effective in the OU meta. The reason I opted for Heavy Slam over Gyro Ball is because Mega Steelix is so absurdly heavy that Heavy Slam is pretty reliably at its full 120 BP as opposed to Gyro Ball being much less consistent and only having 8 PP. Earthquake hits nearly everything that resists Heavy Slam for solid damage. I originally used Stone Edge for flying types like Zapdos, Gyarados, and Talonflame, but I found that Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn were exceptionally difficult for my team to handle, so I had slightly more success using Fire Fang. I often lead with Steelix because it can set up rocks, hit taunters or opposing hazard setters very hard, and also because of how difficult it is to OHKO. Its massive physical bulk, even when un-invested, allows it to take on the majority of physical attackers. Lastly, it cleans up unprepared teams surprisingly well.
Cresselia (F) @Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Def/ 8 Sp Def
Nature: Relaxed
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Trick Room
-Moon Blast
-Moonlight
-Lunar Dance
Cresselia is the premier Trick Room setter of the team. There may be more optimal EV spreads out there, but the one I used worked well enough. Mental Herb is essential as it allows me to lead against taunt users and still set up TR. Her massive physical bulk allows her to eat up hits from threats as powerful as Bisharp and M-Metagross and reliably set up Trick Room multiple times per game. Moonblast is for chip damage, Moonlight to aid me in setting up more Trick Rooms, and Lunar Dance is one of the key moves of the team, allowing me to fully restore one of my heavy hitters and clean teams up.
Crawdaunt Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Def
Nature: Brave
IVs: 0 Speed
-Crabhammer
-Knock Off
-Superpower/Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet
The star of the team. This monster deals huge damage to EVERYTHING that is not Chesnaught. Adaptability plus very high powered stabs, good coverage in Superpower plus priority in aqua jet allows Crawdaunt to put major dents in teams. A little playful prediction with this thing has many a time put me in a great position to win. I opted for Superpower over Swords Dance for an immediate way to deal heavy damage to Keldeo, and reliably knock out mons like Heatran and Bisharp reliably without having to rely on Crabhammer's 90% accuracy. Crawdaunt is in my opinion the most threatening Pokeon under Trick Room and is usually the one I look to pass a Lunar Dance to.
Porygon2 eviolite
Ability: Download
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Sp Def/ 8 Sp Atk
Nature: Sassy
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Trick Room
-Recover
-Ice Beam/Thunderbolt
-Tri Attack/Thunderbolt
Porygon2 and its incredible special bulk allows it to tank hits extremely well and set up Trick Room multiple times a game like Cresselia. People usually use more offensive P2 sets on Trick Room teams, but being that my team is relatively frail and that ORAS has brought a plethora of powerful new threats, I opted to maximize its special bulk to better compliment Cresselia. Download helps P2 have slightly better offensive presence. Tri Attack deals solid damage and Ice Beam wrecks the ever common Landorus I/T, Gliscor, Garchomp, and even Dragonite. Thunderbolt + Tri Attack allows P2 to not be walled as hard by Steel types and Tbolt + Ice Beam provides the coveted boltbeam coverage.
Dragalge @Choice Specs/Life Orb/Assault Vest
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Sp Atk/ 8 Sp Def
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Draco Meteor
-Sludge Wave
-Focus Blast/Scald
-Scald/Hidden Power Fire
So recently I've preferred assault vest on Dragalge because I lacked switch-ins for Charizard Y. Also, the ability to switch moves is useful in winning the mind games that naturally occur when my opponent is sporting the ever common Dragon/Fairy/Steel core.
This thing is a monster with Adaptability. Choice Specs is the preferred item as the extra power allows Dragalge to maul nearly everything that isn't a Fairy Type. The issue with Dragalge is that its dual STAB Dragon/Poison is completely ineffective against Fairy and Steel respectively, causing unnecessary mind games on which move to use. Life Orb helps fix this problem, but as I mentioned earlier, this team is easily worn down by the likes of entry hazards and lack of reliable recovery on 60% of the team members. Without Dragalge, the team is very weak to Specs Keldeo, which is another reason I feared taking Life Orb recoil over Choice Specs. When using Dragalge, you're mostly going to be mindlessly clicking Draco Meteor and sometimes Sludge Wave. Dragon Pulse can help sweep but Focus Blast and Scald add nice coverage and allow Dragalge to get a solid hit on teams with Fairy and Steel cores.
Cofagrigus Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Sp Atk/ 8 Def
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 0 Speed 0 Atk
-Trick Room
-Nasty Plot
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond/ Will-o-Wisp/ Hidden Power Fighting
The offensive Trick Room user of the team. +2 Cofagrigus is pretty scary as normal type is uncommon in OU bar Chansey. Cof can reliably set up Trick Room once a game and put some offensive pressure on opposing teams with Nasty Plot + Shadow Ball + Destiny Bond. Destiny Bond is the preferred option in the last slot as it has gotten me many important KO's on unprepared opponents. Also, Mummy can be a surprisingly useful ability against the likes of Scizor, Azumarill and many Megas such as Altaria, Pinsir, and the uncommon Glalie which are all greatly hindered by the Mummy ability.
Importable (EDITED TO CURRENT VERSION)
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 20 Spe
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Tri Attack
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Trick Room
Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 2 Spe
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Trick Room
Dragalge @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast
Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
- Moonblast
Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Conclusion
So there's the team! Once again, I am not claiming that it's a great team, or even a good one. It's just a fun team and play style built around one of my favorite Megas that can hold its own and catch players off guard. I'm not sure if I will use this team much any more, but regardless, feel free to leave any feedback you'd like as I'd love to improve this team for my own use and mainly for anyone else who may have any interest in using it! Really hope you enjoyed. :)
Proof of my peak at #8
-My goal was breaking the top 10 so I didn't bother trying to ladder any higher.
Oh yea! Here are some replays to showcase how the team works!
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ubers-53386 -vs. The legendary Style in the semi finals of the Suspect Tournament (Swapped Cof for Reuniclus in this one)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ou-33695 - An SPL Farm League game
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-211487592 - Ladder Battle (Very aggressive play on turn 14 ;] )
Last edited:
