- Before I started to build the team, I knew I wanted a HO Steel team. So, I chose Skarmory as my suicide lead. I chose the Salac Berry + Sturdy combination instead of the Focus Sash + Weak Armor one for more consistency, but you can choose to go with the latter one as to not get murdered by Kyurem-B.
- Since Skarmory has problems against both Electric and Fire teams due to type weaknesses and both types having effective hazard clearers in Zapdos/Rotom-W and Torkoal/Rotom-H respectively, I knew I had to make
Scarf Excadrill its first teammate to clean Electric teams once Zapdos is out by chip damage + Heatran's Taunt (we'll get to that later) and deal with the ever so dangerous M-ZardY and other Fire-types. Scarf Excadrill also plays the much needed role of speed control within the team.
- With Heatran inevitably joining the team, I knew I needed something to deal with Ground- and Water-types. Since Ferrothorn doesn't fit in the HO playstyle, I added
AV Celesteela to the team. Between its four coverage moves, Celesteela can sweep Ground-types altogether in the right circumstances and take out dangerous Water-types like Specs Keldeo for its teammates, not to mention it also can deal decent damage to Dragon-types, which Steel teams can struggle against. AV Celesteela is also a useful pivot for HO teams that need a switch-in to special attacks.
- With a specially defensive pivot in the team, I felt like I now needed a physically defensive pivot. I also lacked priority moves and a setup
sweeper. Therefore, physically defensive M-Scizor was the next teammate. Its EV spread and nature enables it to greatly ease the Fighting matchup and to tank M-Swampert's Waterfall in the rain (unless bs flinch hax). It also has enough speed to go before Azumarill and M-Venusaur so it can use Bullet Punch or U-turn before they move. Speaking of U-turn, it has proven to be very useful for HO teams such as mine to safely place M-Scizor's teammates on the field, thus gaining momentum throughout the match.
- Due to its Fire immunity, Heatran is not just a staple on Steel teams, it's a mandatory member. With only two spots left, I immediately added
Air Balloon Heatran for its stallbreaking skills, a second Ground immunity (Skarmory doesn't really count since it's a suicide lead) and another way of checking Fire-types with Earth power, Stone Edge and, of course, Flash Fire. Magma Storm + Taunt breaks through most defensive mons like Hippowdon (if Air Balloon is still intact) and Porygon2, and can prevent opposing Defoggers from clearing Skarmory's SR and Spikes away.
- Finally for the last teamslot, I needed a secondary setup sweeper that could clean Water-types, have either great speed or access to priority moves, and make the fighting matchup more bearable. I struggled for some time to find the perfect teammate, but after a while, I found that the unconventional
mixed Z-Happy Hour Jirachi fit in perfectly with the rest of the team. After Z-Happy Hour and with a specially based mixed spread with Psychic and Thunderbolt, Jirachi OHKOes threatening and pesky Water-types like Specs/Scarf Keldeo and Toxapex (after SR, but still) and 2HKOes bulkier ones like Suicune and Sap Sipper Azumarill. Iron Head + Serene Grace also lets Jirachi make use of its decent Atk and great Speed stats to
hax its way to victory weaken opposing mons before KOing them with its other moves (or before a teammate revenge kills it). The recently popular SubCM set might seem appealing to choose over my set, but I feel like it doesn't quite belong in a HO playstyle.
I'll finish the team's description by saying that the entire team MUST be shiny in order to achieve its maximum potential. Since Jirachi is the only team member to mandatorily be shiny, its set cannot be bluffed if the rest of the team isn't shiny too: when you see a shiny Jirachi surrounded by five other shiny mons, you don't see a Z-Happy Hour Jirachi, you just see yet another shiny mon. Plus, they all look pretty rad in their shiny form!
Enjoy! Ü