Other Metagames A LO Sharpedo Balance [Monotype]

[Izaya]

Hey, its Izaya here, with my first rmt :) I've never tried to build water before(i just use some generic cancer), and I really thought a LO Sharpedo water would be cool. I haven't used it on the ladder seriously yet, but its had some decent success vs friends and in tours.

The Teambuilding Process-

I started off with LO Sharpedo, the mon i based this team around.

Next up I added my favorite water wall and Stealth rocks setter, Swampert.

I chose Mega Gyara, since it can easily clean late game if played properly. Paired with Sharpedo, it completely bops the psychic matchup. I also brought along banded Azumarill to ease the dragon matchup.

I noticed i needed a spinner as well as a Mega Venu check, so i chose assault vest Slowking, which also acts as a spdef wall, and Tentacruel as a secondary wall as well as my hazard control and grass neutral

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
​

Nothing much to say really, pretty straight forward imo. Save helps vs drags, psychic and if you time the protects and attacks correctly, it can pull clutch wins.

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 160 HP / 252 SpA / 96 SpD 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
- Power Gem
- Psychic
- Scald
- Fire Blast


This is my main venu check as well as my spdef wall. It has access to greater and more offensive movepool, with evs to tank 3 giga drains from a a Mega Venusaur, and 2HKO it with psychic. I run psychic over psyshock since most venus tend to be offensive or physically defensive. These EV's guarantee a 3hko from a Mega Charizard-Y solar beam, as well as 2HKO it with power gem.

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 248 HP / 136 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 166-196 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
124+ SpA Slowking Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 252-300 (84.8 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
124+ SpA Slowking Psychic vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mega Venusaur: 182-216 (50.1 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Impish Nature
- Scald
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake/Yawn

Swampert is my defensive wall(obviously :P). With access to Roar, Stealth Rock and Scald, it acts as a great hazard setter and shuffler, along with the ability to get some clutch burns. It's ev'ed to take 2 ice beams from a LO Kyurem-black, threaten it with yawn and get rocks up safely.

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Earthquake/Substitute
- Dragon Dance

This is my preferred water mega and my late game sweeper. At +2 almost nothing stops this mon and it can clean sweep psychic after mew is gone. I run earthquake because of the fact that rotom-wash is a huge threat to my team.
​

252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-W: 188-222 (61.8 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-W: 282-332 (92.7 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD 248 HP / 152 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Acid Spray

My hazard control mon as well as my grass neutral mon. Helps with venu thanks to liquid ooze, and is a good switch-in for types like ghost, bug and dark that threaten Slowking. Tentacruel has enough speed ev's to speed creep threats like jolly bisharp and breloom, and click acid spray or scald depending on which one it is.

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off / Superpower

The powerhouse of the team, and the mon which helps with my matchup vs dragons. Azu gets me many W's by simply clicking aqua jet.
​

Threats:-

Yeah, my matchup vs flying and electric is cancer, and this mon can stall out the entire team and spam discharge. My main check to this thing is clicking toxic with tentacruel and stalling it out with slowking + swampert + tenta. Rotom-W can also hard wall this team along with zapdos, which is why I run earthquake on my Mega Gyara.

​

Breloom gets a kill everytime it comes in. Rocks are important vs fighting otherwise a mon needs to be sacked to break its sash.

Kyurem black does serious damage, with swampert being the only thing that isnt OHKO'd. If its scarf, azumarill can take a fusion bolt and revenge it with play rough. If its LO, i need a burn from swampert or a roll on azu to win :X

Importable

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Power Gem
- Fire Blast

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Roar
- Yawn

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Crunch

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off

Feel free to toy around with the sets :]

 

[lax]

Hey, man! Pretty solid team, here's a rate:

The first thing I noticed is your Slowking ev spread. What I noticed you could do is replace some SpA evs for SpD evs to guarantee that you live 2 solar beams from Charizard-Y, a huge threat, and hit it hard with a 4x Power Gem. The evs I made for you are perfect for you as they also guarantee the 2ohko with Psychic on the standard Mega-Venu spread while also letting you live 2 solar beams. Although power gem is not a guaranteed ohko, pretty low chance in fact, zard will stay take a ton allowing you to easily revenge kill it or you can kill it by damaging it prior to bring in king with something like Tenta, which chews any hit.
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 248 HP / 136 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 166-196 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
124+ SpA Slowking Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 252-300 (84.8 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
124+ SpA Slowking Psychic vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mega Venusaur: 182-216 (50.1 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The second thing I'd recommend is changing Swampert up a bit. The EVs could be changed to 112+ Def and 144 SpD. As mixed life orb Kyurem-Black is a huge, huge threat to water teams, investing 144 EVs into SpD guarantees you to live 2 Lorb Ice Beams and survive even with rocks on your side of the field. This allows you to Yawn and force it out, thus allowing you to set up rocks safely, or having a top threat asleep. Even with a lot of the defense evs moved to spdef, swampert is still able to maintain a hefty amount of bulk.
252 SpA Life Orb Teravolt Kyurem-B Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 144 SpD Swampert: 169-200 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Next, I noticed your clear uncertainty on your Gyarados's moveset as you have many, many slashed moves, so I'll try and clear that up for you. I'd definitely run Waterfall as it is completely necessary STAB as it hits really hard and is the strongest, most accurate STAB move at dos's disposal. Next, I'd run Substitute > Earthquake & Taunt on Gyarados. Substitute is amazing for a bulky, set-up sweeper like dos as it absorbs any attempted status as long as you outspeed. You are also able to set up on any "weak" mons that cannot break your sub allowing you to maintain health and set up more.

Final thing is rather minor, but I'd actually change Toxic -> Toxic Spikes on your Tentacruel. Toxic Spikes allow you to threaten many types (aside from flying, steel, and poison, of course) and wear down your opponent exponentially. I'd also recommend changing Tentacruel's ev spread to 108 Speed to creep huge threats like Breloom and Bisharp, and try to get a nice scald or acid spray off, depending on which one it is.
​

That's what I'd suggest, here are the sets!

Sets

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Power Gem
- Fire Blast

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Roar
- Yawn

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Crunch

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray

Good luck with your team! :)

 

[Izaya]

Hey, man! Pretty solid team, here's a rate:

The first thing I noticed is your Slowking ev spread. What I noticed you could do is replace some SpA evs for SpD evs to guarantee that you live 2 solar beams from Charizard-Y, a huge threat, and hit it hard with a 4x Power Gem. The evs I made for you are perfect for you as they also guarantee the 2ohko with Psychic on the standard Mega-Venu spread while also letting you live 2 solar beams. Although power gem is not a guaranteed ohko, pretty low chance in fact, zard will stay take a ton allowing you to easily revenge kill it or you can kill it by damaging it prior to bring in king with something like Tenta, which chews any hit.
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 248 HP / 136 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 166-196 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
124+ SpA Slowking Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 252-300 (84.8 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
124+ SpA Slowking Psychic vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mega Venusaur: 182-216 (50.1 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The second thing I'd recommend is changing Swampert up a bit. The EVs could be changed to 112+ Def and 144 SpD. As mixed life orb Kyurem-Black is a huge, huge threat to swampert, investing 144 EVs into SpD guarantees you to live 2 Lorb Ice Beams and survive even with rocks on your side of the field. This allows you to Yawn and force it out, thus allowing you to set up rocks safely, or having a top threat asleep. Even with a lot of the defense evs moved to spdef, swampert is still able to maintain a hefty amount of bulk.
252 SpA Life Orb Teravolt Kyurem-B Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 144 SpD Swampert: 169-200 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Next, I noticed your clear uncertainty on your Gyarados's moveset as you have many, many slashed moves, so I'll try and clear that up for you. I'd definitely run Waterfall as it is completely necessary STAB as it hits really hard and is the strongest, most accurate STAB move at dos's disposal. Next, I'd run Substitute > Earthquake & Taunt on Gyarados. Substitute is amazing for a bulky, set-up sweeper like dos as it absorbs any attempted status as long as you outspeed. You are also able to set up on any "weak" mons that cannot break your sub allowing you to maintain health and set up more.

Final thing is rather minor, but I'd actually change Toxic -> Toxic Spikes on your Tentacruel. Toxic Spikes allow you to threaten many types (aside from flying, steel, and poison, of course) and wear down your opponent exponentially. I'd also recommend changing Tentacruel's ev spread to 108 Speed to creep huge threats like Breloom and Bisharp, and try to get a nice scald or acid spray off, depending on which one it is.
That's what I'd suggest, here are the sets!

Sets

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Power Gem
- Fire Blast

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Roar
- Yawn

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Crunch

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray

Good luck with your team! :)

Hey Lax, thanks for the rate! These changes definetely helped me :). The one thing im going to stick with is Toxic over toxic spikes since it stops zapdos from stalling me out