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I wanted to build this team around Scarf Serperior as I think it's an absolutely fantastic (and cool) Pokemon. Its EVs allow it to out-speed Jolly Mega Swampert under rain as well as Scarf Kartana. Leaf Storm is its primary STAB attack and is extremely spammable thanks to Contrary. HP Fire allows it to OHKO Kartana and hit most things that resist Leaf Storm. Knock Off and Glare are utility moves in order to allow it to cripple opposing Pokemon. However, Serperior is weak to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug, which leads me into my next Pokemon...
Heatran @ Assault Vest
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 16 HP / 252 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Heatran patches up Serperior's weaknesses extremely well, being completely immune or 4x resistant to all of them except for Flying, which it is still 2x resistant to. Serperior also does a decent job of handling most of Heatran's weaknesses, too. They were practically made for each other! Heatran has decent coverage options and great bulk, and I wanted to capitalize on that with this set. 240 Speed EVs and a Timid Nature allow it to out-speed Jolly Mega Scizor, and the rest of its EVs are invested into its SpDef to allow it to take maximum advantage of its Assault Vest. Overheat allows it to OHKO Magearna, which it must do if it wants to switch in and survive Magearna's Focus Blasts. Flash Cannon is great for hitting Fairy-types, OHKOing Mega Diancie and hitting most of the Tapus for decent damage. Earth Power covers opposing Heatran, Magnezone, and Toxapex, among others. I'm running HP Ice because my team was otherwise completely without an ice-type attack. We all know Heatran is a great Pokemon, but it brings with it 2x weaknesses to Water and Fighting, and a 4x Ground weakness to the team. And so...
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
I chose Rocky Helmet defensive Landorus-T to provide an immunity to Heatran's Ground weakness and a resistance to its Fighting weakness. Landorus-T acts as my Stealth Rock setter for the team, and forms a nice defensive Volt-Turn core with Rotom (more about him in a minute). 144 Speed EVs allow it to out-speed max speed Modest Heatran, and everything else is put into maximizing its bulk. Earthquake + Stone Edge provides great coverage, hitting almost everything for at least neutral damage. Rocky Helmet + U-Turn and Intimidate allows Lando to switch in, take a physical hit, and pivot out while still dealing decent chip damage. Unfortunately, Lando-T doesn't cover Heatran's Water Weakness, and it brings a 4x weakness to Ice of its own. I needed something to cover those weaknesses and act as a utility Pokemon and pivot, so I went with the obvious choice...
Rotom-Wash's main role is to act as a Defog user for the team and to form that lovely Volt-Turn core with Landorus-T. It resists both Water and Ice attacks, and has a fair amount of bulk thanks to its 252 HP EVs. It also is completely immune to Ground attacks thanks to Levitate, and having multiple Ground immunities on the team is never bad when you're using Heatran. Its EV spread allows it to volt switch around and take hits, while its Wiki Berry will give it a nice bit of recovery once it gets low. It also can hit things like opposing Heatran and Landorus-T pretty hard with Hydro Pump, or cripple opposing physical attackers with Will-O-Wisp. I was still a bit worried about that Ice weakness though, and also found my team a bit lacking in the way of physical attackers and sweepers.
Using Mega-Gyarados on a team is almost cheating because you're getting two Pokemon for the price of one. Before Mega-Evolution, its Water/Fighting type allows it to resist Fighting attacks, be immune to Ground attacks, and only be hit for 1x effectiveness by Grass attacks, while having a bit of pivot utility thanks to Intimidate. When you Mega Evolve, you lose your weakness to Rock, cut your resistance to Electric in half, and trade your Ground Immunity for a Psychic immunity instead. Sure, you pick up an added weakness to Grass, Bug, Fighting, and Fairy, but you also pick up Mold Breaker and a monstrous 155 base attack stat! What's not to love? The great thing is that the Mega Gyarados set is perfectly viable on regular Gyarados as well, so you can choose when to Mega Evolve based on the matchup. Max speed and max attack EVs maximize its sweeping potential. Intimidate also allows it to switch in and set up more freely prior to Mega Evolving. Not much to say beyond that; it's a pretty standard Mega Gyarados set.
For my last Pokemon, I needed a Z-Move user that helped cover the Fighting weakness I had developed by adding Mega Gyarados, especially since Heatran doesn't particularly like Fighting moves either. I knew I wanted a physical attacker so I'd have a nice 3-3 split of physical vs. special on the team... so basically, I wanted a physical Ghost-type. Who else could I choose but the adorably dark Mimikyu? Much like Mega-Gyarados, max speed and attack maximizes its sweeping potential. Play Rough serves as its primary STAB attack, while Shadow Claw provides secondary STAB. Shadow Sneak gives priority, which is great for finishing off weakened foes or getting one last hit in before going down. Swords Dance allows it to take advantage of Disguise and set-up, while Mimikium Z gives it a very cuddly one-time nuke.
That's all I've got at the moment! I've only returned fairly recently from a long break (stopped playing for a while towards the end of XY), but I'm trying to get back into it. Thanks for reading, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions!
Edit #1: Swapped Mimikyu's Fairium Z to Mimikium Z, and swapped Drain Punch for Shadow Claw. Changed Rotom's EV spread to be more physically defensive and swapped its Leftovers for a Wiki Berry.
1. Rotom: This is a relatively minor thing, but while I understand your reasoning for it, I think Rotom would be better off with this spread.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers/ Wiki Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
This sacrifices some speed for some added bulk, which for a pivot like Rotom is really nice to have, letting it better check pokemon like Gyarados, Mega Pinsir, and other physical threats. Now while you can keep leftovers on it, I prefer Wiki Berry on it, because since this thing is going to be constantly switching into attacks and rocks in order to get them off, it's going to get worn down faster than lefties can recover it, especially without Pain Split. With Wiki Berry, you can restore quite a bit of health in a bind, allowing you get off an emergency wisp, an emergency defog, or even come in more often on attacks such as Ash Gren's Dark Pulse.
2. Mimikyu: While I don't think Mimikyu is perhaps the absolute best choice for this team, I think for what you're going for it's fine. Even still, there are some improvements that can be made to the set.
Mimikyu @ Mimikium Z /Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
Mimikium Z gives Let's Snuggle Forever, which is far stronger than Z-Play Rough. There's also the option to use Ghostium Z to hit Fairy resists like Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Magearna much harder, which in turn can open up a door for Serperior and Mega Gyarados to sweep after they've been severely weakened. As for why I've replaced Drain Punch with Shadow Claw; Shadow Claw is just a really nice secondary STAB that hits a lot of the tier neutrally and lets you beat Psychics more easily. The only things you really lose out on are hitting Ferrothorn harder and hitting T-tar for 4x supereffective damage, but +2 Play Rough destroys it already
And that's about it for my suggestions for now. While I do have some reservations about the Heatran set, I'll ultimately hold off judgment until I've done some more testing. Anyways, I hope you find these suggestions helpful.
1. Rotom: This is a relatively minor thing, but while I understand your reasoning for it, I think Rotom would be better off with this spread. View attachment 182826
Rotom-Wash @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 52 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
2. Mimikyu: While I don't think Mimikyu is perhaps the absolute best choice for this team, I think for what you're going for it's fine. Even still, there are some improvements that can be made to the set.
Mimikyu @ Mimikium Z /Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
Mimikium Z gives Let's Snuggle Forever, which is far stronger than Z-Play Rough. There's also the option to use Ghostium Z to hit Fairy resists like Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Magearna much harder, which in turn can open up a door for Serperior and Mega Gyarados to sweep after they've been severely weakened. As for why I've replaced Drain Punch with Shadow Claw; Shadow Claw is just a really nice secondary STAB that hits a lot of the tier neutrally and lets you beat Psychics more easily. The only things you really lose out on are hitting Ferrothorn harder and hitting T-tar for 4x supereffective damage, but +2 Play Rough destroys it already
And that's about it for my suggestions for now. While I do have some reservations about the Heatran set, I'll ultimately hold off judgment until I've done some more testing. Anyways, I hope you find these suggestions helpful.
In response to a comment above, don't use Mimikium Z. A ghost type nuke is much more likely to clear a relevant check like a bulky steel.
My main question is what's the purpose of AV Tran? I don't see it luring in any check to Mimikyu or Serperior, and it just loses its ability to taunt relevant checks or get rocks up. With the damage you'll still be taking from rocks and physical attacks I'd suggest that the recovery and versatility of a leftovers set is much more valuable. Jolly Mega-Scizor isn't really a thing that exists in this meta, as Scizor sweeps are usually reliant entirely on BP. I would advise the Smogon Specially Defensive set, maybe opting for Taunt and Toxic over Stealth Rock to annihilate Chansey and Toxapex.
In response to a comment above, don't use Mimikium Z. A ghost type nuke is much more likely to clear a relevant check like a bulky steel.
My main question is what's the purpose of AV Tran? I don't see it luring in any check to Mimikyu or Serperior, and it just loses its ability to taunt relevant checks or get rocks up. With the damage you'll still be taking from rocks and physical attacks I'd suggest that the recovery and versatility of a leftovers set is much more valuable. Jolly Mega-Scizor isn't really a thing that exists in this meta, as Scizor sweeps are usually reliant entirely on BP. I would advise the Smogon Specially Defensive set, maybe opting for Taunt and Toxic over Stealth Rock to annihilate Chansey and Toxapex.
AV Heatran allows it to 1v1 non-AV Magearna sets (especially Shift Gear variants) since it turns Focus Blast into a 3HKO instead of a 2HKO, which my team otherwise has a very hard time dealing with.
