Gen 6 [ORAS OU] Bulky Offensive Keldeo Core

[cwarning]

Hi everyone, this is my first team build I've made since my recent return to Pokémon and I decided to center it around Keldeo. I believe my coverage is fairly solid, but if you see any major flaws with it PLEASE bring it to my attention, because ultimately I want to improve this list and constructive criticism is the best way to do so in my opinion. This is my first post on this forum, and I read over the guidelines for this thread but if anything is formatted incorrectly let me know so I can fix it. With all that out of the way, let's get into the build:

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Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind / Focus Blast

I designed this whole team to support Keldeo, and for good reason. Keldeo is a complete powerhouse and can close out games rather easily once you clear your opponent's team of Keldeo's threats. Keldeo has solid bulk and defensive typing for an offensive Pokémon. However, Keldeo falls short and gets walled against common Pokémon in the meta such as Latios, Mega Latias, Mega Venasaur, Starmie, and Amoonguss. My team composition has been designed to cover much of these weaknesses, but please note that I am not aiming to put all team's weight on Keldeo's shoulders. Many of my choices are able to setup sweep when given an opening so when I say this is a Keldeo core, it does not mean that the team is entirely reliant on Keldeo to perform successfully. Scald is a given, since it's Keldeo's primary STAB move that can inflict a burn to cripple opposing Pokémon. Hydro Pump is another water type STAB that hits harder than scald so it should be used on bulkier Pokémon. Secret Sword is Keldeo's primary fighting type STAB as well. The fourth slot is a bit flexible since you can opt for coverage with Icy Wind, or you can slot in Focus Blast for a heavier hitting STAB than Secret Sword. I usually slot Icy Wind because I don't have any other Ice moves on my team, but Focus Blast Keldeo is just as good.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Scarf Tyranitar pairs incredibly well with Keldeo, since it can pursuit trap several of Keldeo's checks, namely Latios and Starmie. I have considered Weavile in this slot because it would have coverage on Amoonguss, Mega Venasaur, and Serperior. However, I do like Tyranitar a lot for this role and Weavile lacks the natural bulk that Tyranitar has. Tyranitar is still a solid pursuit trapper with a good movepool. Pursuit is obvious, since you need it to lock in many of Keldeo's threats. Crunch is a decent damaging STAB move that can reduce opposing Pokémon's defense as a bonus effect. Stone Edge is a high damage STAB move that has good coverage. I also have Superpower slotted for further coverage for Pokémon such as Bisharp.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- U-Turn

Before I ran Landorus-T I did some testing with stallbreaker Gliscor but now I think Landorus-T fits better on this team after my revision. Landorus-T is primarily a utility oriented rock setter and physical tank with very well rounded stats overall. Stealth Rocks is appreciated by all of my team members and Landorus-T can consistently set this hazard. Knock Off is simply a solid utility move to remove held items and it hits fairly hard. Earthquake is a powerful STAB move and counters several checks to my team. Slow pivots via U-Turn can bring team members in safely as well which is extremely useful. The combination of Rocky Helmet and Intimidate also discourages physical attackers.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Magma Storm

Heatran was another choice that checked more of Keldeo's threats. I opted for a taunt stallbreaker set rather than an offensive rock setter set because I am now using Landorus-T for rocks instead of my former Gliscor stallbreaker. Heatran is great for this stallbreaker role do to its unique defensive typing. Instead of running Flash Cannon for the steel coverage to check fairy types, Taunt is used to counter Pokémon like Clefable and Chansey because Heatran's steel typing alone is powerful enough to check Clefable with a Taunt up. Toxic is used to cripple bulky Pokémon and wither them down with a Magma Storm trap. Earth Power has great coverage and checks many of it's own threats as well as opposing Heatrans. I also run Magma Storm over Fire Blast since it's capable of trapping more Keldeo checks and forcing them to fight Heatran.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled

Clefable has always been one of my favorites, and my Calm Softboiled Clef is my baby. Clefable is great on this team because it has an excellent defensive typing and it can bait out poison and steel types for my other team members to deal with. It is also capable of setting up with Calm Mind, and it can slow down opponents with Thunder Wave as well. Soft-Boiled allows Clefable to heal in a single turn rather than running an Unaware set with Wish and Protect which frees up room for useful moves. Moonblast is Clefable's only offensive move, but it hits Pokémon like Latios and Latias very hard.

Mega Latias @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Before I ran Mega Latias, I ran a Life Orb Latios set. While Life Orb Latios wasn't bad, I had to squeeze in a mega evolution. I have to say Mega Latias has been a blast. It deals with bulky water types with ease, especially opposing Keldeo. Stored Power doesn't do much until you Calm Mind, but it is a powerful STAB move meant for setup sweeping. I opted for Thunderbolt instead of something like Draco Meteor or Dragon Pulse for better coverage as well. Recover is an obvious choice for longevity to keep Mega Latias alive.

That's about it for now! Everything has been working out very well for me so far and I haven't ran into any major problems, but I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks for taking a look at my team!

 

[xOliver]

Alright, first things first. Great team! I’m really looking forward to this rate.

Keldeo:

Nothing to say, standard demonic Keldeo everyone hated, keep icy wind to take care of lati@s. You could also put HP flying to take care of amoongus and mvenu

Tyranitar:

I noticed that ttar had pursuit and a choice scarf, which isn’t too good as it gets locked in and can only switch out after one successful switch-out.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

So change that^ to this:

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

This lets you literally SMACK the opponents pokemon whether they so choose and gives you an answer to lati@s once again as they were so predominant in this gen.

Landorus-Therian:

Easily my favorite ground pokemon. This pokemon has insane typing and great potential. I recommend the Earth plate double dance set. This set is possibly my favorite set from any pokemon and gives literally unmatched potential.

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Smack Down
- Earthquake
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance

This gives LandoT plenty of firepower and the ability to hit insanely hard. This also acts as a check for talonflame which can give keldeo some trouble with prio brave bird (gotta love the nerf eh?)
Heatran:

This is the one I understand the least, you usually put air balloons on sr tran, not on semi-wall.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Magma Storm
This set wouldn’t really be that viable with an air balloon, a simple switch to lefties would do the trick.

Clefable:

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled

Make. It. Unaware.

Latias:

Great set, I’d keep it.

Anyways great team, I’d use myself but I love my gallade-mega team that I will NOT release.

Cheers, have a good one!

 

[cwarning]

Hey thank you for your thoughtful response! I truly appreciate your feedback and I will consider some changes for testing very soon here, namely the double dance Landorus-T and Unaware Clefable sets you mentioned.

The reason I find it necessary to keep choice scarf Tyranitar is simply to pursuit trap Keldeo's checks. I know he gets locked into the move, but if it means he can remove Lati@s from the board then I can't help but feel that he served his role perfectly haha. However, I will still test out that band Tyranitar set you listed to see how I like it in here, but like I said I just love him for pursuit trapping with my current set.

I'm simply running Air Balloon on Heatran because Leftovers is already on my Clefable and I'm trying not to repeat items on my team. Air Balloon just felt like the second best alternative to Leftovers.

As for Double Dance Landorus-T, I absolutely love that set. I might want to convert my Heatran back to a stealth rocker to run this double dance set, but I would have no problem doing so to run this. Landorus-T is my favorite and it would be so nice to run him as a physical setup sweeper on this team considering I don't have one at the moment.

I run an Unaware Clefable on my USUM OU stall team and it's just too good. I chose to run a Magic Guard set instead on this team for the access to Soft-Boiled really just to test it out and I have been really enjoying it. I traded her all the way from FireRed to Omega Ruby and I feel like it was so incredibly worth it. I will definitely test an Unaware set on this team soon though.

I'm going to give you're suggestions some testing. Again I really do appreciate your response and praise it really means a lot to me. I've worked really hard putting this team together and it's really refreshing to see an outside perspective. I should update this page with revisions by tomorrow too.

Thanks again!

P.S. I know you said you weren't going to release your Mega Gallade team, but if you don't mind sharing it with me or giving me advice for a team with Mega Gallade I'm currently working on another team with Mega Gallade and Bisharp as the core of the team and I think I could use some tips from someone who has more experience running them than I do.

 

[xOliver]

Hey thank you for your thoughtful response! I truly appreciate your feedback and I will consider some changes for testing very soon here, namely the double dance Landorus-T and Unaware Clefable sets you mentioned.

The reason I find it necessary to keep choice scarf Tyranitar is simply to pursuit trap Keldeo's checks. I know he gets locked into the move, but if it means he can remove Lati@s from the board then I can't help but feel that he served his role perfectly haha. However, I will still test out that band Tyranitar set you listed to see how I like it in here, but like I said I just love him for pursuit trapping with my current set.

I'm simply running Air Balloon on Heatran because Leftovers is already on my Clefable and I'm trying not to repeat items on my team. Air Balloon just felt like the second best alternative to Leftovers.

As for Double Dance Landorus-T, I absolutely love that set. I might want to convert my Heatran back to a stealth rocker to run this double dance set, but I would have no problem doing so to run this. Landorus-T is my favorite and it would be so nice to run him as a physical setup sweeper on this team considering I don't have one at the moment.

I run an Unaware Clefable on my USUM OU stall team and it's just too good. I chose to run a Magic Guard set instead on this team for the access to Soft-Boiled really just to test it out and I have been really enjoying it. I traded her all the way from FireRed to Omega Ruby and I feel like it was so incredibly worth it. I will definitely test an Unaware set on this team soon though.

I'm going to give you're suggestions some testing. Again I really do appreciate your response and praise it really means a lot to me. I've worked really hard putting this team together and it's really refreshing to see an outside perspective. I should update this page with revisions by tomorrow too.

Thanks again!

P.S. I know you said you weren't going to release your Mega Gallade team, but if you don't mind sharing it with me or giving me advice for a team with Mega Gallade I'm currently working on another team with Mega Gallade and Bisharp as the core of the team and I think I could use some tips from someone who has more experience running them than I do.

You could always use moonlight for the unaware clef if you want :)

 

[Palestine]

sorry couldn't help but post here, keep Lando as defensive, definitely don't make it some offensive set otherwise you just lose to many common things, ALWAYS have pursuit on your ttar, that's the reason you have the ttar, to trap starmies and latis, etc, you obviously want pursuit to either ohko or chip the resists enough for them not to be switchins anymore, your team is relatively weak to hazard stack and gliscor, however, I feel that you can play around that fairly well, your team is overall solid and can do with some minor tweaks though, lefties on heatran is very necessary imho, as otherwise it gets chipped easily and u lose to scizor, keep scarf on heatran u have no speed control, alakazam is a very notable weakness so keep that in mind, it has many possible variants that can beat your team down, (sub cm, modest, etc). goodluck with future endeavors and don't hesitate to post more RMTs ! remember to tag me on future ones as i'd really like to help you out :)

 

[cwarning]

philisteen thank you for the reply and naming some notable weaknesses to my team. After some testing I decided to keep my Landorus-T as a defensive set because I love the utility he brings to the table with this team as a SR setter with U-Turn and Knock Off. I would just be losing out on the pivot and item removal if I ran a double dance set. I gave my Heatran Leftovers because I always knew it was better than Air Balloon, but that's about it for the changes I made. I really have just been a bit busy lately and forgot to update this page haha. I'll keep your suggestions in mind for coverage options, and thanks again for the praise and suggestions. Be on the lookout for another ORAS team and perhaps a couple of my USUM teams in the near future. :)

 

[Palestine]

keep it up my guy !