ORAS OU RMT: Gallade squad, peaked 1310

[Shadowball]

What's up Smogon? I figured it's time for a new rmt, and a core I've been wanting to build around for a long time because of it's sheer power and versatility, as well as it's ability to take out some of the most popular mons to rampage OU. However, i'm struggling to keep it past 1300, hovering between 1240-1280 because something about the team isn't really gelling.

teambuilding

So obviously, the two man tried and tested core is Mega Gallade and Bisharp, as they're able to switch in (though I don't like to do it too often especially with hazards around) to each other's weaknesses. I needed a reliable switch in to fire types, as bish dies in 1 hit and Gallade hates a burn. Defensive Rotom-w rounds out the 3 man core by also providing essential bird support. Moving on, I needed a defogger and opted for Latios, giving me offensive support against dragons that can set-up on gallade/bish like Mega Char-X and Mega Altaria. A fairy type was also desirable to really put a stop to dragons, and for a back-up fighting type resist, easing mons like Mega Lopunny and Keldeo, who is a bit of a problem for this team. Finally, I needed a rock setter and tank, so I went for Hippowdon.

Onto the team then:

Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Justified ---> Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Psycho Cut
- Ice Punch

Mega Gallade actually surprised me with how much damage he can deal, especially when you factor in his decent speed tier of 110, which puts it at 350 Jolly. If i can manage to get a swords dance or two off, and as long as the main counters of fairy and ghost are out of the way (i can deal with the odd flying type with ice punch) there's nothing stopping it from really sweeping. He's my favourite Mega Lopunny counter because the mega ability prevents flinching, so I break right through it after they fake out and hit them with Close Combat and hit. I've gone 3-1 with this mon alone, making the rest of the fight a matter of cleaning up. Standard moveset and EVs, allowing me to boost and sweep.

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off

The next guy is Bisharp, and he's able to switch in on the psychic and ghost types aimed at Gallade. It's amazing when I can switch Bish into a shadow ball, and then pursuit kill them. It completely wipes out enemy Lati@s: it's basically a free kill on those, so i'm already 1-0. I can sometimes do it to alakazam and gengars too, but usually they run focus blast so I have to think logically and try sucker punching instead; it's still a kill if it lands. Besides that, he hits hard with Iron Head, especially after a lucky defiant boost, and provides the team with valuable knock off support. Again, standard moveset and Evs. I did wonder about the assault vest build but realised I wanted it to hit as hard as possible, especially running the pursuit build.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump

Ok so Rotom's job is to spread burns, provide some momentum grabbing with Volt Switch and to absorb fire attacks aimed at the team, take the odd burn if I have to, and ease the pressure that the flying birds do to this team. It still packs a decent amount of power, able to pick off flying and water types fairly easily, but it's main job is being an annoying tanky pivot.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower

Clefable has an interesting role on this team, absorbing burns like Rotom, and being able to set up with calm mind and providing the team's fighting and dragon soak, easing the pressure of those set-up mons, and being able to counter things like Keldeo and Mega Lopunny, the former of which can be a problem for this team.

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock

Latios weighs in as my defogger, and can pack a decent punch, but has the common problem of being fairly weak to stealth rock, so it's risky switching it in. Still, it does a good job of outspeeding key dragons in the tier like pre D-Dance Mega Char-X and Mega Altaria and putting a stop to them before they can damage my team.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Honestly, I just needed a stealth rocker and and tank, as my team was steering towards being too offensive and so I picked Hippo. Not much to say about him; he's fairly tanky and can set up rocks and be annoying with Toxic, but falls very easily to water and grass attacks. Still, if he gets rocks up and a toxic off it's ok.

Conclusion

So, that's the team. Honestly, I'm not amazingly happy with it; something about the team just isn't gelling. I think it's too offensive for my liking. Essentially I need a real defensive back bone that can eliminate Gallade's threats to let it sweep. There were a few changes to this team that I was thinking about, in order to make it more defensive:

• Changing Rotom-W to Azumaril and removing Clefable, combining the water and fairy typing into one poke'mon.
• Changing Hippowdon to defensive Rock Setter Garchomp, with toxic and dragon tail.
• This now gives me Latios and Clefable to work with; I was thinking of Mandibuzz or something similarly tanky as my defogger, and then possibly a Sp.Def Talonflame instead of Clef to be able to hit grass and steel mons like MetaGross, that has caused me trouble in the past.

This is where I need your help: I think the 3 mon core works better as Gallade, Bish and Azumarill, but from there, I really don't know how to make the team gel or why my team really isn't doing that well. Hoping you guys can help me make a nice, balanced defensive core to go with my offensive Gallade, Bish and Azu core.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Sobi]

Hey there! This is a nice well-formatted RMT, and you've got a great team. However, I do have some suggestions that could help your team.

• 
  Heatran >
  
  Hippowdon: Now, the reason for this is because your team is quite weak to Clefable, who can switch into Gallade and Latios. Bisharp struggles with Clefable, unless it's 1v1, which isn't very reliable, so Heatran provides a more solid check to it, as well as a dependable Stealth Rock / Toxic user, just like Hippowdon. You could run the standard Leftovers - Lava Plume | Toxic | Taunt / Roar | Stealth Rock set, but you can tweak it as you wish. In addition, Heatran can switch into any Fire-type moves, or Will-O-Wisp, and thanks to Flash Fire, can get the boost in its Fire-type moves.
• Hidden Power Fire > Roost on
  
  Latios: I see that you're running Latios instead of Latias to fit the offensive theme most of your Pokemon share, so Roost is unnecessary here, as it provides the opponent with an easier chance at predicting, allowing them to switch into a Pokemon, and set up. It also helps against Ferrothorn and Scizor.
• Considering Heal Bell on
  
  Clefable: Once Bisharp / Gallade get a burn, unless you have a way of getting rid of it, you're pretty much done for. Heal Bell on Clefable helps solve that problem, keeping them both burn-free. You could switch into Heatran instead, but it's better to be safe than sorry!
• Adamant nature on
  
  Bisharp: This allows you to hit as hard as possible, ensuring the OHKO on opposing Latios [252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 530-627 (177.2 - 209.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO]
• Zen Headbutt > Psycho Cut, and Knock Off > Ice Punch on
  
  Gallade: Although it hits slightly weaker, it has a chance to flinch, which is very helpful. The coverage from Ice Punch does help against Staraptor, but Knock Off can hit hard neutrally, and removing the foe's item is also very helpful.

I hope I helped. Good luck with the team ^_^

 

[Sun]

yo,
Nice team,Your team has potential, you have built well, but I noticed some threats that are difficult to handle for your team, as charizard x, to beat the best you should use Defenisive yache berry landorus-therian>Hippo, will take care also to a good ground immunity, which it is always useful to beat pokemon as SD Excadrill. Also complete with rotom-w the volturn core,also with yache berry provides a good cover to mega manectric,raikou,thundurus.

I noticed your team don't have switch in for mega garde and weavile which worn down all your pokemon,so i suggest to use Klefki>Clefable,it provides a good speed control thanks to Prankster Thunder Wave,it be helpful against mega lop,charizard x,alakazam-mega,also set spikes,these are good because help the bisharp and gallade sweep in late game.

Now the small changes: Put 8 Spe> 8 Spa on Rotom-w, it is good because you outspeed adamant Crawdaunt and 0 spe landorus therian. Put 0 Ivs ATK on Latios,rotom-w,klefki, it help for take less damage by confusion and foul play. Put Adamant >jolly nature on Bisharp because it have more power,you hit hard,also the standard Pursuit set run Black Glasses ,ye i think its better on Bisharp,because It does not undergo recoil ,Also Swords Dance > Pursuit its not a bad idea ,it sweep very well :).

Sets

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 HP / 240 Def / 28 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes
- Magnet Rise
- Flash Cannon

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

Hope ive help you and GL with the team ^^

 

[yuruuu]

Hi! I do not think your team is too offensive at all tbh considering you have a Hippowdon and a Rotom-W lol. In fact, I'd say it is too passive for a team built around Mega Gallade + Bisharp.

I see a huge weakness to fairy types, as well as to Serperior. The easiest, and most obvious change, would be to replace Clefable with Bulk Up Talonflame. This allows you to still check Mega Sableye, as well as Serperior and the other Fairy type Pokemon, such as Clefable, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Altaria, and so on. Your steel type in Bisharp is not really a switch-in to these Fairy types, so every time one of these comes in something is going to die. Although Talonflame does not switch into Psyshock from Mega Gardevoir well, the threat of giving Bisharp a free switch-in should allow you to be able to play around it with 2 different checks. Latios should run Thunderbolt over Roost to help with Azumarill and Gyarados, as you rely extremely heavily on Rotom-W to check these, and it is not uncommon to see Rotom-W get worn down through repeated hits. It also helps you hit Skarmory, whose recoil from Rocky Helmet could be annoying for Mega Gallade and Bisharp.

The 8 spe on Rotom-W suggested by king sun should be implemented, going for a slower volt switch is a silly idea that will never come up outside of lead Rotom-W vs lead Rotom-W scenarios, and even then in a last mon scenario you'd cry because you are getting outsped by defensive Landorus-T / other Rotom-W and getting killed which is really stupid. Psycho Cut alongside Ice Punch is unnecessary, as Psycho Cut is used mostly to avoid recoil from Rocky Helmet Garchomp, but Ice Punch handles that very well. As such, you should try running Zen Headbutt over it. You could also try Thunder Wave on Rotom-W over Thunderbolt - this helps your team by slowing down faster threats such as Latios so that Bisharp has an easier time pursuiting them.

If you do take the above suggestion of Klefki, run Adamant Bisharp - the additional power makes it more useful on spikes builds, notably being able to OHKO Lando-T, as well as being able to KO Latios with Volt-Switch into Bisharp.

Hide

Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump

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

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 228 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Taunt
- Brave Bird
- Roost

Hope the rate helps!

 

[Shadowball]

Wow, thanks everyone for all your rates. I'm still digesting your help but I'm seeing common themes here, with regards to tweaking sets. As such, I'm going to trail everything you've all suggested regarding the sets, i.e. black glasses on Bish, Knock off + Zen headbutt on Gallade. One little thing here; If I'm running knock off on Gallade, should I replace Knock off with swords dance on Bisharp?

I did have this team in my mind as a balance team; the idea being that I'd use my other tanky mons as pivots and switch-ins to wear the enemy team down to allow my team to sweep up. With that in mind, I really need a defensive core, and want to try and make M-Gallade work on a balance team rather than HO. Ideally, i'd want only them two as the sweepers, with bulky sets being used across the board to help mitigate damage. However, what defogger is better than Latios for this team? Possibly Skarmory but I'm not sure, there aren't really that many tanky defoggers. So, do I bite the bullet and use three "sweepers" (bish, Gallade and Latios) or would a bulkier defogger fit better?

That said, I really don't like Hippo on this team, and really like the idea of Heatran; It allows me to switch in on fairies, gives me a fire soak for Bish and Klefki (spoiler alert I might try him) gives me taunt and a rock setter, and lets me hit Serperior better. However, with Mega Venu's ability, it takes less damage from fire attacks; is a sp.def Heatran set capable of wearing down a Mega Venu? Especially one running toxic maybe. The only reason I didn't want to run Heatran is the fighting weakness it incurs alongside Bish, putting a lot of pressure on Gallade to be able to kill Lopunny.

To fit this theme, I'm thinking of using Sp.Def bulk up talonflame over Clefable; Klef would be nice, but it would compound too many weaknesses like not being able to touch M-Lop, a ground weakness, another fire weakness. Sp.Def T-flame gives me a fairy and fighting resist, a fire soak, a chance to spread it's own burns if I run WoW, and an answer to Mega Lop (and for that matter any fighting type), lessening the devestation it can wreak. Klef does counter fightings, however, and can spread a variety of traps and status effects. Thoughts on this?

Changes in short:

• Heatran > Hippo; Sp. Def tank that can spread rocks, fire soak and switch in to fairies and Serperior.
• Either Sp.Def T-Flame or tank Klekfi > Clefable; both have merits, having a hard time figuring out which would be better
• Does 3 tanks and 3 sweepers make a good balance team, or should I think about trialing a more tank oriented defogger to help out?

Once again, thanks for all the help; I've tried to address the major things you've all suggested, and I'm going to go ahead and tweak the sets based on what you've already said. I just need help with a few of the bullet points above. If anyone is unclear, finally, this team is meant to be a balance-y team, and the win-con is to remove threats by either hazards, prediction or wearing them down with tanks to allow Gallade to switch in, set up and finish them off. To that end, fairy, flying and ghost types are the main counters, and must be dealt with; I think the team as it stands can handle this, but the suggestions you've all posted should help with this. Let's make this team work :D

-Peace

 

[Shadowball]

So, I changed my team around to:

• Gallade
• Bisharp
• Talonflame
• Latios
• Heatran
• Rotom-W

On paper it looks ok. However, I played 5 games and won 3 of them, which isn't bad, but they were close games. The main things I've noticed is:

• Even though I have T-flame with Acrobatics, Mega Lopunny can still destroy me. I might change the set to be HP/Attack to be able to really hammer it. OR change Rotom-W to Azumarill. While it's prone to burns and I miss the chance to spread burns, I have a switch in to Weavile and Lopunny, while hitting harder and more reliably than Rotom to counter Heatran, Talonflame, Gliscor/Lando-T, and gives me priority.
• With T-flame on the team, and most of the team being neutrally weak to SR, it puts loads of pressure on my Latios to defog, though I might start relying more heavily on taunt on my Heatran. However, this is pretty dodgy as TankChomp outspeeds it and both TankChomp and Hippo can ohko Heatran, unless I use a balloon variant.
• I trialed Klekfi > T-flame but I was horribly weak to ground then, with mold breaker ExcaDrill outspeeding and koing 4 or 5 of my mons on it's own.

What can you guys suggest? :( I kinda wanna make this team work but at the moment I'm having such shit results with it that I'm thinking of just scrapping it lol

 

[yuruuu]

So, I changed my team around to:

• Gallade
• Bisharp
• Talonflame
• Latios
• Heatran
• Rotom-W

On paper it looks ok. However, I played 5 games and won 3 of them, which isn't bad, but they were close games. The main things I've noticed is:

• Even though I have T-flame with Acrobatics, Mega Lopunny can still destroy me. I might change the set to be HP/Attack to be able to really hammer it. OR change Rotom-W to Azumarill. While it's prone to burns and I miss the chance to spread burns, I have a switch in to Weavile and Lopunny, while hitting harder and more reliably than Rotom to counter Heatran, Talonflame, Gliscor/Lando-T, and gives me priority.
• With T-flame on the team, and most of the team being neutrally weak to SR, it puts loads of pressure on my Latios to defog, though I might start relying more heavily on taunt on my Heatran. However, this is pretty dodgy as TankChomp outspeeds it and both TankChomp and Hippo can ohko Heatran, unless I use a balloon variant.
• I trialed Klekfi > T-flame but I was horribly weak to ground then, with mold breaker ExcaDrill outspeeding and koing 4 or 5 of my mons on it's own.

What can you guys suggest? :( I kinda wanna make this team work but at the moment I'm having such shit results with it that I'm thinking of just scrapping it lol

The thing about this edit is that it lacks a ground type, which is more or less mandatory in this meta, as it stops dangerous threats such as +1 Charizard-X and Electric types from waltzing through the entire team. It would also help you with Mega Lopunny. Also no idea why you are running Talonflame + Heatran, considering both already work as checks to Clefable and Serperior. Would definitely replace Heatran with a Ground type. You can try a few options, but I really think that Hippowdon could work here as a bulky ground type that literally hard stops Electrics. Furthermore, you seem to have a predisposition towards bulkier Pokemon (lol) which although I feel doesn't particular fit your team's theme, but you are likely to feel more comfortable playing.