National Dex A Team for All Seasons: Summer in Medina [Zard-Y + Scarf Heatran]

[BestGirlSense]

Summer in Medina



Introduction​

This is my first attempt at building a Natdex OU team, so I did not really know where to start. After playing with a couple of sample teams and watching a few games from NDPL VI, i decided to copy the six mons of a team I saw in a couple of replays. Unfortunately, I did not manage to figure out the sets of the six mons, so I had to improvise. The result is a very offensive team that is able to plow through a lot of teams used on ladder that are not prepared for Choice Scarf . Using this team, I was able to hit 1820ELO, 72.5% GXE and reach top 40.

​

The team is built around and . is a strong special attacker and it's able to handle a lot of threats on its own, but it's not the star of the team. The real threat in this team is Choice Scarf , which on its own is already able to outspeed and oneshot with Eruptions a lot of poor souls, but with sun up there is almost nothing that can tank one of its Eruptions at full health.

In-Depth



Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball
- Solar Beam
- Scorching Sands
- Roost
​

's role in this team is to set the sun up. Once that is done, it can start dealing lots of damage and weaken many targets for Heatran to finish them. Weather Ball is strong and accurate (unlike Fire Blast), Solar Beam can finish the water types that the opponent will switch into to tank Weather Ball, Schorching Sands is nice coverage with a bonus chance of burn, and Roost keeps alive longer. Modest maxSpa helps a ton to get certain 1HKO/2HKOs, but at the cost of not outspeeding certain mons.
Interesting calcs:
252+ SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Alomomola: 254-300 (47.5 - 56.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. +1 0 HP / 4 SpD Volcarona in Sun: 199-235 (63.9 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y in Sun: 224-266 (75.4 - 89.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Ogerpon-Wellspring in Sun: 324-382 (107.6 - 126.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
A possible change to this set could be dropping Scorching Sands for Dragon Pulse, to better face some tougher matchups (like Z , , , ).

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
​

As already mentioned, this is the star of the show. Eruption at full HP is stupidly strong and spammable, and paired with Sun it becomes almost impossible for anything but the most specially defensive mons to tank two hits. with is fast enough to outspeed pretty much anything that isn't scarf of booster energy Speed. The other moves are backup: Magma Storm is only used when Heatran has taken damage, Earth Power is good coverage for emergencies and Flash Cannon is only used against for the suprise 1HKO (which happens more frequently than it should). However, you can pretty much forget about all these moves, since 90% of the time you will be clicking Eruption. Flash Fire rarely gets activated, but when it does this thing does even more ridicoulous damage.
Magma Storm could be dropped, since it is an emergency move that is not used until you get to low HP on (which should not be happening), and changed to Dragon Pulse, better against the dragons, or alternatively change EP with Dragon Pulse.
A few calculations:
252 SpA Heatran Eruption (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Volcarona in Sun: 352-415 (113.1 - 133.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA 252 SpA Heatran Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 229-271 (44.5 - 52.7%) -- 25.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Heatran Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp in Sun: 210-248 (50 - 59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA 252 SpA Heatran Eruption (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Ogerpon-Wellspring: 253-298 (84 - 99%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Before moving on to the rest of the team, we need to identify the main threats to this core. The first big problems are hazards: Stealth Rock take 50% of 's health at every switch in, and 's Eruption becomes progressively weaker the more times it comes in on hazards. This is why we use not one, but two different mons for hazard control: and . We use to prevent hazard being put up, and as a contingency plan to remove them, since, even with perfect predictions, can bypass 's Magic Bounce.

Hatterene (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic Noise
- Draining Kiss
- Mystical Fire
​

's main job is to keep hazards off the field, but its role is not limited to this. With Calm Mind, can transform into a surprise wall-breaker and weaken a lot of the foes that could stop and . Draining Kiss allows to remove most of the health from , Landorus-Therian: and , Psychic Noise hits and , while Mystical Fire can take a surprise KO on and keep SpA low enough in emergency situations.
I have not thinked much about this mon EVs, its a standard set from Smogon Dex, something better can probably be found.

Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Headlong Rush
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
​

Other than removing hazards, acts as a physical check for many of the tier physical attackers. If sun is up, Proto Defense activates and this thing becomes basically unkillable if kept healthy (a few recurring calcs below), which is why it's also holding Leftovers. I have also chosen to use him as a hazard setter, but it's not necessary to put up Stealth Rock in most games. Rapid spin to remove hazards, Knock Off to remove HDB on defensive mons, Headlong Rush to deal damage. Being the only physical attacker in this team, before letting this guy die you should be sure that the special attackers in this team are able to beat whatever remains on the opposing team.

252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Protosynthesis Great Tusk in Sun on a critical hit: 90-108 (20.7 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Great Tusk on a critical hit: 222-270 (51.1 - 62.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Dragonite Supersonic Skystrike (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Protosynthesis Great Tusk: 294-348 (67.7 - 80.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Protosynthesis Great Tusk in Sun: 168-200 (38.7 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 Atk Gyarados-Mega Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Great Tusk: 266-314 (61.2 - 72.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Before moving on to the next two mons, it's time to figure out which mons and teams give most trouble to this core.

• Weather teams
  • : Sand Teams are probably the hardest to deal with, specifically because of specially defensive . This thing is almost impossible to kill using the special attackers, threatens most of the team, can Pursuit and , and a lot of pressure is put on to deal as much damage with Headlong Rush, even at the cost of losing its Leftovers. Once is gone, it is only a matter of removing/stalling out Sand and hoping that whatever is left is enough to win the game.
  • : Rain Teams are a little bit easier to deal with, because is weak to Stealth Rocks and 's Solar Beam (in Sun) can oneshot most members of a Rain Team. A relevant interaction is 's Weather Ball, which still does a lot of damage in Rain and can KO a weakened to win the weather war. Still, something else must be added to reliably beat this kind of team.
  • : HO Veil Teams severely cripple this team, because it lacks defenses and can be exploited. When veil is up, isn't really a threat anymore, because it cannot take 1HKOs and will be easily chipped. It is important to prevent Veil going up, and if it does it needs to be carefully stalled out. will probably try to come in on , so a well placed Knock Off can make the game much easier.
• Dragon types resist most of 's and attacks, so they are very dangerous. A dragon resist, other than , is needed
• : if the opponent does not immediately sack it to 's Flash Cannon, this thing fries the entire team.
• can always run away with the game if the opponent can create the right circumstances. It is also hard to hit once boosted, because other than we only have special attackers.

Raging Bolt @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Volt Switch
- Draco Meteor
- Weather Ball
​

fits perfectly on a Sun team, makes rain matchups much easier and helps against the birds (, and ). Dragonium Z is used to get key KOs on ground types, such as , and . Thunderclap is very useful priority, and can do enough damage on Ogerpon-W to be in the range of Heatran's Eruption. Volt Switch is also very useful against other weather teams, especially Sand, to reset the weather to Sun and let the team take a break. Draco Meteor can get important damage on many defensive threats, while Weather Ball rounds up its coverage.

This last spot is contented between two mons, so I will put both of them and the preferred choice can be used.

Gholdengo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Trick​

rounds up the team really well, because it can cover up a bit all of the weaknesses of this team. Make It Rain hits and really hard, which makes the opponent switch them in less often. Thunderbolt helps a lot against Rain Teams since most do not expect it, while a well placed Trick can make games much easier, especially against stall. It is also a needed dragon resist, and can threaten out :latios-mega, which this team struggles with. It is also perfect as a check to , which destroys this team without . As a bonus, it can also act as a spin blocker if the situation requires it.

Ceruledge @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Poltergeist
- Shadow Sneak​

was the original 6th slot, but was changed to on the version of the team that got me over 1800 elo. It also had an entirely different job, mostly used as a late game sweeper. However, in the games that I won, it rarely happened that I used it as intended, but was often just an emergency check to certain threaths and a spin blocker. It also was another prey, weak to hazards and did not help in the weather matchups. For all these reasons, I changed it to , which has proven to be better.
Not everything was bad though. is the only other physical attacker on this team, and was essential to win many games against a boosted , which straight up loses against. Most importantly, Focus Sash can bail you out against many setup sweepers, which combined with priority Shadow Sneak gives you two chances to KO the opponent. Swords Dance could be changed with Close Combat, for the extra coverage that this mon needs.

Remaining Threats​

After everything we have done, some threats remain

• This mon being able to bypass Magic Bounce, but is usually able to handle the hazards quite well. Still, annoying to face
• This thing is still a threat even with in the team, so it needs to be carefully handled. With , hope your opponent forgets that can hold a Choice Scarf.
• Literal opposite of , does not help and can sometimes handle it. This is probably the biggest threat to the Gholdengo version.
• In my experience, this is the hardest weather matchup and it is really hard to deal with it. Positioning with is vital
• After sand, this is the second worst weather matchup. Behind screens, a lot of innocent mons become giant threats. with Substitute is especially tough, you are always one flinch away from losing
• Dragons are still tough. I have lost to more times that I would like to admit

Importable​

https://pokepast.es/4eb02ce8c5155709 w. Gholdengo
https://pokepast.es/91620c4d73723999 w. Ceruledge

What is next for this team
​

I have grown quite tired of this team, so I will stop using it for a while. If anyone wants to improve this, I have left a few suggestions in the analysis. It is left as an exercise to the reader to implement these changes and improve the team​

 

[Rothcore]

Replace slot 6 with an AV Melmetal. It can sponge special attacks while spreading status. It also checks Diancie. E.g,
Melmetal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Thunder Punch
- Earthquake/Superpower
- Thunder Wave/Toxic

Alternatively, Scarf Kartana can fill most of the same roles as Gholdengo, albeit providing item removal and late-game cleaning (after heatran is chipped). It can also optionally be tertiary hazard control. This can free Great Tusk of some moveslots, possibly letting it run a Bulk Up set.

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike/Defog

 

[trufs]

Replace slot 6 with an AV Melmetal. It can sponge special attacks while spreading status. It also checks Diancie. E.g,
Melmetal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Thunder Punch
- Earthquake/Superpower
- Thunder Wave/Toxic

AV... Thunder Wave?

 

[trufs]

hey there, grats on top 40 btw, next time grind one more battle js to be above animemer frfr, hate that guy.

First thing i saw when looking at this was a plethora of weird sets and ev spreads, particularly on the tusk and raging bolt sets.

https://pokepast.es/8294adc2c9e9637f
my take on how to maximize the sets to be as good as possible generally

Here's what and why i changed:

should be one of the more obvious ones, sure you have more power with modest, but being able to outspeed things like and non scarf on your own is overall a better trait, you're far from being passive in the power department so your team would most definitely appreciate trading a bit of it off for a better speed tier

is cool but in sun it's almost always better with an , especially on your sun specifically you lack a pivot. It's still does kinda the same stuff as before, just not kill glisc directly but you have other pokemon that kill it and an eject button free pivot on the eq to help you further, also healing wish is cool and fits better with the new item :p

is a really awkward one for me, i dont think much of the calcs you presented change if you give it 40 speeds evs, which make it able to outrun uninvested , bulky , and max speed .
Ice spinner is there over knock because like that tusk goes from a passive blob to a defensive pokemon who can pack a punch against common would be answers , , and even .
and would particularly make you a setup fodder otherwise too.
If you feel like knock is better that's fair (it's borderline mandatory for a reason), but finding another mon that that has that move is easier than doing tricks with tusk's movepool imo

without speed investment is flat out bad in my opinion, you're supposed to kill stuff like but you let your hp get halved by eq before you do actually kill it, 84+ speed EV's let it outspeed uninvested but would definitely not complain if you made it max speed anyways.

Nothing else i can change much that'd make the team better without straight up replacing something, but you could try replacing with another bulky steel, like for sucker punch speed control (not as good as a scarf but it's something) and knock off so you can run ice spinner on comfortably, you could even put an on it so it checks better ? I guess? also this mon pretty comfortably stands in front of most , which is pretty cool.
could also be another decent fit here, does pretty much all that does while being overall bulkier, although the lack of the sucker punch prio and especially knock off are hurtful.
could be a an amazing fit here too, good speed control with and has knock off, the problem is that this guy doesn't help you switch into diancie at all


I also noticed a decent weakness to scarf because like:

248 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Protosynthesis Great Tusk: 82-97 (18.8 - 22.3%) -- possible 6HKO

This is your best check, not bad at all, but quickly overwhelmed with hazards up since you have no boots, and you can't hit it back for big damage, best you can do is knock it's scarf off but any smart player is switching lando out anyways because most run ice spinner.

Although it struggles to switch in, BO and Balance teams are far from being in lack of slow pivots that help with that task. And once it's in, your forced to play a weird prediction game to:
1. get your chipped further every time it checks Lando, orrrr...
2. do a very risky switch to your , if you get it right, is locked into Earthquake and has to switch or die, if you get it wrong you get stone edged and die.
A good player could use this weakness to his advantage and bluff his as a scarf while the whole time it had a z move and either kill your or your , depending on your switch and the z move it's running.
You're also a bit weak to yourself ngl, can chip you pretty bad but if you play your right you should be fine

 

[BestGirlSense]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Some things you said really hit the nail in the head, so I'll start with those

First thing i saw when looking at this was a plethora of weird sets and ev spreads, particularly on the tusk and raging bolt sets.

I am not good at EV spreads, I usually copy them from SmogonDex or go 252/252. There are two that stick out the most: Hat and Tusk. Hat's EVs are honestly a copy of the ones on Smogon Dex, I did not know where to start with them so I copy-pasted and called it a day, I have no idea what they do but they kind of work so I did not touch them much. Tusk's EVs are surely not optimized: I wanted Tusk to stick around as long as possible, so I decided for 252HP/252+Def but it's probably overkill, and there are in fact a few situations where Tusk wants some extra speed, so I'll look into that.

is a really awkward one for me, i dont think much of the calcs you presented change if you give it 40 speeds evs, which make it able to outrun uninvested , bulky , and max speed .
Ice spinner is there over knock because like that tusk goes from a passive blob to a defensive pokemon who can pack a punch against common would be answers , , and even .
and would particularly make you a setup fodder otherwise too.
If you feel like knock is better that's fair (it's borderline mandatory for a reason), but finding another mon that that has that move is easier than doing tricks with tusk's movepool imo

I really want to put Ice Spinner on Tusk, because DNite and Garchomp are two of the worst matchups of this team. The problem is that removing Knock Off makes Heatran a little bit worse: Heatran comes short from 1-2HKOing a lot of stuff outside of sun, so the Stealth Rock chip is essential on as many mons as possible, and some of them usually run boots (Toxapex with boots into Eruption has a net HP gain after regen). It also let me gain an advantage when Volcarona tries to be funny and switch into Rapid Spin to activate Flame Body, if i predict it and Knock Volcarona will not enter the field again, but with Ice Spinner this is no longer possible. As said in the post, it really makes the matchup against HO Veil much easier, because A-Ninetales can switch in safely only on Tusk (or after i get a kill with ZardY), so I can take advantage of that.
Still, I'll give it a try because I have lost too many times to SD Garchomp and DNite final mon, and surely run some extra speed.

without speed investment is flat out bad in my opinion, you're supposed to kill stuff like but you let your hp get halved by eq before you do actually kill it, 84+ speed EV's let it outspeed uninvested but would definitely not complain if you made it max speed anyways.

I wanted Bolt to be able to take a few hits, so 252Spe doesn't really fit that well. A little bit of speed to outspeed Gliscor wouldn't really hurt, so I might go with that.

Nothing else i can change much that'd make the team better without straight up replacing something, but you could try replacing with another bulky steel, like for sucker punch speed control (not as good as a scarf but it's something) and knock off so you can run ice spinner on comfortably, you could even put an on it so it checks better ? I guess? also this mon pretty comfortably stands in front of most , which is pretty cool.
could also be another decent fit here, does pretty much all that does while being overall bulkier, although the lack of the sucker punch prio and especially knock off are hurtful.
could be a an amazing fit here too, good speed control with and has knock off, the problem is that this guy doesn't help you switch into diancie at all

Sixth mon is really akward in this team, everything I put makes some things better and some things worse.
is probably the best option, can deal with , can use Knock Off instead of Tusk, adds priority and pursuit is always nice to have. However it cannot spin/defog block, it's really slow and does not do well with , unless it uses AV which could work. Checking is nice, but with Tusk it's not really needed.
really helps with , but it's slow, scared as shit of (unless it runs PPads, but then it dies in 2hits max and does not 1hko). Cannot spin/defog block. Probably the worst fit
is a worse ghold, fast and strong but it literally dies to anything and doesn't check neither diancie or volcarona [ 228 SpA Diancie-Mega Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 212-250 (81.8 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO ]. Also does not spin/defog block, but at least it can remove hazards.
and are already in the post.
Essentially, it's a question of "Do i want to be better prepared for Diancie or Volcarona?". For Diancie only, is best. For Volcarona only, is best. For a little bit of both, + is probably best.

I also noticed a decent weakness to scarf because like:

Yes, this is tough, but it is not impossible. However there is not much space to make this matchup better, i just need to be smart with hatterene and tusk. I have won some, I have lost some

You're also a bit weak to yourself ngl, can chip you pretty bad but if you play your right you should be fine

Yes, i'm kind of weak to scarf ghold. I don't really have any idea to improve this matchup

Now the things I don't agree with.

should be one of the more obvious ones, sure you have more power with modest, but being able to outspeed things like and non scarf on your own is overall a better trait, you're far from being passive in the power department so your team would most definitely appreciate trading a bit of it off for a better speed tier

I'm not sure about this. Zard gets a lot of unexpected KOs because the opponent stays in/switches in something that does not live modest (probably expecting +Spe nature). Without Modest, Mola and Pex become much harder to break since Bolt, due to its role, usually gets worn out by a lot of stuff and i cannot rely solely on it for these two.

is cool but in sun it's almost always better with an , especially on your sun specifically you lack a pivot. It's still does kinda the same stuff as before, just not kill glisc directly but you have other pokemon that kill it and an eject button free pivot on the eq to help you further, also healing wish is cool and fits better with the new item :p

This I feel its wrong. Leftovers+CalmMind makes hatterene quite a threat and makes the matchup against stall easier. The problem with is that this team is not really hyper offense, the majority of the work is done by and , but at the beginning of the game they are not able to get KOs without the extra chip given by the other mons. So getting them in safely at the beginning of the game does not really give me any advantage against teams that have answers to them, just a little bit better positioning but at the cost of risking to later lose hatterene (and getting SR on my field) because i did not get the Leftovers+DKiss recovery when switching in.

 

[trufs]

hi again!

The problem with is that this team is not really hyper offense, the majority of the work is done by and

first of all, that Hatterene part is understandable, i guess? Your explanation is definitely valid.
i just didn't get this "hyper offense" part, since normally hatt runs your CM set in hyper offense teams, and eject button is typically used in weather teams. Although I feel your justification is valid, I feel like is worth a try, nuzzle helps you with your lack of speed control (if you were to replace ) and also check pretty much the same as before and still doing chip damage, exception to only , who you can stand in front of short term anyways.

I'm not sure about this. Zard gets a lot of unexpected KOs because the opponent stays in/switches in something that does not live modest (probably expecting +Spe nature). Without Modest, Mola and Pex become much harder to break since Bolt, due to its role, usually gets worn out by a lot of stuff and i cannot rely solely on it for these two.

I dont get it? Not much of your calcs change really, WishFish is the most notable i can think, who just about doesn't get ohko'd by timid.
But like, does that matter? No WishFish is standing front of you, even turn 1, when it's on paper, guaranteed to survive a solar beam and get a flip turn/toxic off, not just because the damage it takes will be very hard to come back from, even with regenerator, but also it fears you are Modest yourself, so the bluff on its own works on your favor. As for Alo, it's a 2hko 97% of the time, let alone after stealth rock, not a difference in practice.
Other than that, i dont see much major calcs that change, doesn't, doesn't, DOES change but that doesn't matter because you got a whole raging bolt on you, and by the time your gets face to face with a Waterpon, that same Pon is most definitely chipped and you are able to OHKO it.
Additionally, a timid nature helps you 1v1 volc with yard, and makes you also outspeed Non Scarf Lando and Great Tusk (could be carrying an unexpected electric/rock move) so that's helpful, it's definitely worth the try.
As for the 6th slot, yeah AV seems like the best option imo.

 

[Rothcore]

AV... Thunder Wave?

brain fart, idk what i meant to put there