Managed to get up to #1 on the ladder with
my Dragon's Maw Arceus team from before, just wanted to share it again with some improvements.
GENERAL
The goal of the team is to set Regidrago, Dragapult, or Arceus-Dragon for a Dragon's Maw boosted sweep. Fairies, Steels, and Boost sweepers are the biggest threats to the team, and so everything is built around softening up those checks.
I've EV'd all of them to favor phys Def by at least 1 point to avoid giving Atk Download boosts.
UTILITY + DEFENSE
Levitate Bronzong is the dark horse of the team, and almost always the lead.
Kasib Berry lets me live random, non STAB Shadow Balls, as well as giving me an immunity to Poltergeist from Golurk and Houndstone after consumption. Don't try switching into any Flutter Manes though.
Tera is basically inconsequential since Bronzong is a suicide lead, but it's set to Steel just in case.
Max SpA + Modest maximizes the damage from Steel Beam and Future Sight. Max Speed gets the drop on a surprising number of opposing leads, but is mostly there since Bronzong isn't going to be sticking around long enough for its defenses to come into play.
Stealth Rock is almost always the first click, barring the occasional Taunt Lycanrocks. I'll click Future Sight if I get the chance, but Steel Beam is almost always the follow up. Also helps to sac Bronzong faster while not giving the opponent a chance to breathe. The fourth slot is always changing, depending on what I end up running into on the ladder. Options I've used include:
- Reflect
- Bulldoze
- Light Screen
- Confuse Ray
- Shadow Ball
Right now, I'm using Rock Tomb. This fourth slot is almost never clicked, so you can adjust this at your leisure.
Flash Fire Heatran is, for sure, the MVP.
AV helps me check Flutter Mane, the biggest threat to the team. Also helps against the occasional Boomburst + Punk Rock teams I come across.
Tera Normal helps me against Flutter Mane again, but I almost never click this on Heatran.
Max HP for survivability, and Max SpA + Modest to hit as hard as I can. It's especially fun melting Sun teams with their own weather.
Ancient Power is one of my odd picks for this set, but it's there for opposing Heatran. Earth Power is probably more intuitive, but if you're running Heatran without Levitate or Earth Eater, it can sometimes feel like a wasted slot. You'd be surprised how often the omniboost from Ancient Power comes into play.
Dragon Pulse is the other odd pick, but makes sense once you consider Dragon's Maw giving you a pseudo STAB boost. This one is here primarily for Dragalge and Giratina.
Flash Cannon and Fire Blast are no brainers. Someone recommended Magma Storm for Fire STAB, but I'm not a betting man.
Fluffy Houndstone is a good boy.
Choice Scarf is mostly for Trick to cripple Boost sweepers, but often comes into play for an emergency Poltergeist or Wisp.
Tera Dark is for the Houndstone last mon mirror, which I've only encountered once. Again, almost never clicked.
Max Speed + Jolly and Max Atk for obvious reasons. I prefer Jolly over Adamant for the Houndstone mirror.
Poltergeist is for big neutral damage that isn't affected by opposing Fluffy. Shadow Sneak is for picking off faster, weakened threats, particularly Flutter Mane when its Psychic Surge has run out. Wisp is an emergency click that I find to be using more rarely ever since the reintroduction of Purifying Salt.
OFFENSE
Dragon's Maw Regidrago used to fall under
UTILITY + DEFENSE, but I've found that it can run away with games if the opponent doesn't have the right checks.
Loaded Dice is for Scale Shot.
Tera Normal is to maximize Explosion damage, but I've basically never clicked it. Don't attempt to Tera Steel or Tera Poison out of the Fairy weakness, Regidrago just doesn't have the bulk or power to make it worth it.
Max Speed + Jolly gives me the drop on a lot of things with the +Speed from Scale Shot or Dragon Dance. Max Atk for Scale Shot and Explosion, while a bit of SpA investment is to maximize Dragon Energy.
Dragon Energy seems like an odd pick, but it's 100% accurate and doesn't make contact. Even with just 4 EVs in SpA, with Dragon's Maw, Regidrago hits as hard as a fully invested 110 base SpA. Scale Shot doesn't make contact and is also boosted by Dragon's Maw. Dragon Dance is there for when I get a free turn to set up against slower teams.
After a single Dragon Dance + Dragon's Maw, that Scale Shot is firing off 672 Atk, which is enough to chunk even a Steel mon switching in. Explosion is for Fairies. Unfortunately, Regidrago's famously sparse move pool doesn't have anything for Flutter Mane, but that's what the rest of the team is for.
Infiltrator Dragapult is the emergency button, and only ever comes out when it's the last mon standing.
The ability rarely comes into play, since Substitute and Screens are so uncommon, but it's nice to have. I could also be convinced to swap it for Cursed Body as an emergency distruptor.
Draco Plate boosts Dragon Darts, but I've flip flopped between this and Heavy Duty Boots before.
Tera Steel is to resist opposing Dragon and Fairy moves, but you better pray that you get the KO after that because Dragapult is still paper thing even with a defensive Tera and Fluffy.
Max Atk + Adamant is my choice for Dragapult since it's already so fast with just Max Speed, but I can be convinced to change it.
Dragon Darts is non contact and breaks Sashes. Dragon Dance makes it even tougher to switch into Darts. Substitute is low key what makes the set work, dodging Sucker Punches and Thunder Wave attempts from fatter, slower teams. Tera Blast Steel is a no brainer, but it sucks that you have to commit to a Tera to use it. I wish Dragapult still had Steel Wing from Gen 8, which is what I preferred to use back then.
The star of the show is Arceus-Dragon.
Draco Plate is the obvious, but it's far from the worst thing you can be locked into. With Dragon's Maw, Judgment is face melting-ly powerful.
Tera Steel is to resist opposing Dragon and Fairy moves, which is great with Levitate + Flash Fire and Arceus' amazing bulk.
Max SpA + Modest is my set up, since Max Speed + Agility already outspeeds most relevant speed boosting threats (e.g. Sand Rush, Chlorophyll, Protosynthesis, Scarfers).
I used to run Calm Mind + Agility, but choosing between checking Fairies or Steels just isn't consistent. The set is now Flash Cannon, Fire Blast, and Judgment + Agility. Flash Cannon and Fire Blast are for the aforementioned Fairy and Steel mons. The only thing that really counters these two moves are SpD Steel mons with Flash Fire support like Iron Crown or Gholdengo, but these are melted pretty consistently by Judgment.
This whole team is basically Judgment the movie, it's a wonder Arceus-Dragon is still allowed.
STRATEGY
Lead with Bronzong. If you suspect you're facing something with Focus Sash, or if you want to start with more offensive momentum, you can also lead with Regidrago. Swap in Heatran and Houndstone when viable, but do not let them get chipped down too much. Heatran is the emergency SpD sponge and Houndstone still has that Choice Scarf it can Trick.
If Dragon's Maw is activated, you can switch in Arceus-Dragon. Probably best if you can chip the Fairy and Steel mons beforehand, but that's mostly decided by the pace of the battle. Depending on the speed tiers of your opponent, you can get an Agility off to get the drop on a suspected Booster Energy +Speed mon like Flutter Mane or Walking Wake. Don't Tera Steel if you can help it, let Arceus' Fluffy boosted bulk stand for as long as possible.
If Arceus-Dragon faints, try to get a free turn to switch in Dragapult and set up. Houndstone's Wisp or Choice Scarf Trick comes in handy here. You will need two Dragon Dances to outspeed a +1 Speed Flutter Mane, but try not to let it get to that point.
MATCH UPS
This team actually has a good match up against Berry teams and Stall. Ting Lu's Vessel of Ruin is troublesome for Arceus, but Dragapult and Regidrago don't give a hoot about it. Random Tera Fairy from something like Stored Power Latias is hard to play around, but it can be telegraphed from team preview alone.
Priority isn't too much of a threat due to Fluffy, but I've gone down a couple of times to Breloom's Mach Punch + Scrappy. Against that, you really just gotta play aggresively, never letting the thing set up or get Moxie boosts.
Steely Spirit teams are the worst match up by far, for obvious reasons. However, these rarely have room for Flash Fire, so I've had a better match up against these since I've added replaced Calm Mind with Fire Blast on Arceus-Dragon.
clicking brave bird on a weakened team 6 times.
felt like it could also work, as the team was struggling heavily with stall, and random rocky helmets on a non stall team would kill me, but I eventually decided to stick with it as I needed a lead, and rocky helmet felt practically stall exclusive.
or 
Basc was the choice on this team over 
was so free into it that I decided to run cc to hit it harder.
among many others. It also helps at weakening the teams for talonflame, as it often requires you to switch in your flying resist(
(dont ask why ppl are running band), fake out mons, and especially for stalling out psyterrain or sun turns. Its still the mon im the least sure about though, and it has felt pretty mid.
@ Choice Specs / Life Orb / HDB
is the only one with the Grass Pelt, that means x1.5 defense in grassy terrain for its other allies, helping some allies with x4 weakness to ground to survive a Earthquake, Heatran is a good example.
is the prefered ally for Gogoat, because of Rillaboom being banned, the only source of Grassy Terrain is Seed Sower.
is the keystone of the team with Scale Shot + Icicle Spear. These moves ignore Fluffy while Thermal Exchange is shareable and prevent any burn. I'd go HDB + SD, with Earthquake for coverage.
has massive attack and access to Rock Blast + Pin Missile. I'd run DD with Booster Energy + Tera Bug (which gives resistances against Ground/Fighting + STAB on Pin Missile). Last move would be EQ, Supercell Slam, Ice Punch...
also provides utility in Knock Off/Encore/Tidy Up/T-Wave, etc.
. Also CE won't buff your opponent team as well.
can abuse Pin Missile/Rock Blast. I'm not sure about this one though, perhaps something with Technician such as 
(even though it can't be shared) or 
with Water Shuriken?
can Trick its Scarf/Specs to annoy defensive answers. I'd run NP/Tera Blast/Ice Beam/Trick with Tera Electric.
