ORAS OU Ace of Diamonds (peaked 1500s before the tilt)

[Repeater1947]

Awesome banner by Blue Frog :)​

Introduction
Hello. I am Repeater1947. I'm usually found in the OU forum, where I'm seen running Pokemon threads or doing some contributions. Despite my low postcount, I've been starting to contribute more now that my school year has ended, yielding me more free time.

Moving on, here's a team built around my favorite Pokemon, Mega Diancie. Not only that I had fell in love with her because of her waifu-ish design, but because her 160 Atk / 160 SpAtk / 110 speed as well as its nice coverage - those are facts you shouldn't ignore when making preparations. This team was built ever since the very beginning of ORAS OU, even when Mega Salamence and Greninja were still legal. Speaking of Greninja though, Mega Diancie was one of the Pokemon who has benefited after the banning of the ninja frog. As the months passed, I've never forgotten this team. Now, the team involves the offensive core consisting of Mega Diancie + SD Talonflame + Latios. Now, I went with this team for quite a lot. I had indeed peaked 1500s with this team on January 30, 2015. However, I recently stopped laddering as I had tilted too much and now I'm currently 1330s, while also believing that the ladder isn't really that good for me at all. Despite that, this is one my proudest ORAS OU teams I've ever built and I never have any plans on disbanding it, ever.

Teambuilding Process

I have started off wanting to build a team around my favorite waifu, Mega Diancie.

So, I have implemented Ferrothorn and Latios, completing the Fairy / Dragon / Steel core. Ferrothorn is able to provide SR while being able to provide a Water- and Grass-type resist for Mega Diancie, being able to check Mega Sceptile, Mega Gyarados, Gastrodon, Seismitoad, and Quagsire. On less significant cases, Ferrothorn can also provide a check to offensive Water-types such as Azumarill and Starmie if they lack super-effective coverage. Also, Ferrothorn provides a Fairy resist for Latios, being able to check opposing Mega Diancie and less significantly, other Fairy-types. Meanwhile, Latios provides Defog support tied with a Water- and Grass-type resist while being able to check Keldeo, Mega Venusaur, and Amoonguss more reliably. In addition, Latios serves as a stable check to most bulky Water-types with Thunderbolt. Mega Diancie complements the core by checking many Fire-, Fighting-, Dark-, and Dragon-types that fail to outspeed her.

Rotom-W provides another Water resist and Ground immunity while being able to wall offensive Water-types and cripple them with a Will-o-Wisp. Also serves as a pseudo-check to Mega Metagross able to cripple it with a Will-o-Wisp. Also, Rotom-W is a great defensive pivot being able to fire off slow Volt Switches in order to get Mega Diancie and Talonflame in safely.

As Chansey walls the team somewhat, I decided to add Bisharp in order to provide Knock Off support. Also, Bisharp addresses the problem with Mega Metagross, being able to knock him out after prior damage.

Lastly but highly important, I need a reliable priority attacker as well as a Pokemon able to reliably check many of the Grass- and Steel-types in OU. And that's where SD Talonflame comes in, one of the most convenient revenge killers in OU. And yeah, SD Talonflame and Mega Diancie have decent offensive synergy, is it not?

As Enki had pointed out, the team has problems with Mega Metagross, Mega Lopunny, Thundurus, and SubCM Keldeo. Ferrothorn was then swapped out in order to make room for support Celebi. Not only it provides a solid water resist and still be able to set up Stealth Rock, but it provides useful Thunder Wave support allowing me to cripple dangerous threats and set-up sweepers. Celebi also provides me a reliable form of recovery.

Team Analysis:

Diancie @ Diancite

Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Protect

Mega Diancie is the star of the team, so let us begin with the waifu. Mega Diancie, having base 160 Atk / 160 SpAtk offenses, makes Mega Diancie hard to switch in to. Having a base 110 speed allows her to outrun a large portion of the metagame. Diamond Storm and Moonblast are your obligatory STAB moves. Earth Power is her standard coverage move of choice, as it prevents her from being walled by Steel-types. Lately, I have decided to run the Protect + 3 Attacks set. If you're rating this team please don't suggest replacing it, as it is one of the best moves you could run on her, it isn't funny. It saved me more games than Rock Polish does, since it allows Mega Diancie to mega evolve early and safely without taking unnecessary damage on the process; if Mega Diancie can't find an opportunity to mega evolve, then she's most likely going to be death fodder during the match. Protect also allows it to scout for potential super-effective moves that the opponent may be running just to snipe her (i.e. Iron Head Skarmory, Steel Wing Talonflame, etc.), as well as scouting for potential opposing Scarfers. EVs are standard.

Celebi @ Leftovers

Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 84 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Celebi is a pretty underrated hazard setter right now. Ferrothorn was my original hazard setter, though I replaced it with Celebi as I had realized my team has problems dealing with Mega Metagross, Mega Lopunny, Thundurus, and SubCM Keldeo. In addition, Celebi provides a Water- and Ground-type resist for Mega Diancie and still being able to check Water-types including Keldeo. Thunder Wave over Baton Pass as it helps cripple the fuck out of set-up sweepers such as Dragonite, Mega Altaria, Mega Gyarados, Mega Charizard X as well as other dangerous threats such as Mega Lopunny, Scarf Tyraniar, Mega Metagross, and such allowing me to deal with them later. It should be taken into consideration that Thunder Wave provides a nice surprise factor, allowing you to surprise set-up sweepers as well as Celebi's usual switch-ins, seeing how many run Baton Pass instead. As always, Recover provides Celebi a reliable form of recovery preventing me from being worn down too quickly from chip damage. It also allows me to stall out LO recoil from the likes of Thundurus. Giga Drain is Celebi's standard STAB attack of choice. It was my decision to run an EV spread of 248 HP / 160 Def / 84 SpD / 16 Spe as to tank hits from Thundurus and Mega Diancie better.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Defog

Latios is pretty much the most popular defogger in OU, due to its ability and good defensive typing supported by the decent offensive pressure it provides, as 130 BP Draco nukes isn't something to laugh at. Latios serves as a Water- and Grass-type resist while being able to provide a useful Ground-type immunity for Mega Diancie. Additionally, Latios serves as a check to Keldeo, Amoonguss, and Mega Venusaur. Thunderbolt is used over other coverage moves, as I require a check to bulky Water-types without having to be forced out after dropping a Draco Meteor. Draco Meteor and Psyshock are standard STAB moves.

Additional Comments

From the very beginning of this team, I've tried HP Fire but then I found bulky waters such as Mega Slowbro troll me all day, so I had decided to run Thunderbolt instead. Despite having Celebi and Rotom-W on my team, I still decided to retain Thunderbolt in order to maintain offensive pressure on bulky Water-types.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

And here we have Rotom-W. With the utility to fire slow Volt Switches as well as being able to cripple opponents with Will-o-Wisp, I decided to fit him on the team. Not only that, it provides a water resist and ground immunity for Mega Diancie and overall having good defensive typing in general. Rotom-W allows me to have a more stable check to birdspam, since Mega Diancie can't reliably switch in on Talonflame, Mega Pinsir, and Staraptor and therefore would only weaken Mega Diancie in the process. Needless to say, Volt Switch is something my team appreciates, given the fact that 2/3 of my team is composed of either frail Pokemon or those who lack any form of recovery. Besides that, Rotom-W allows me to reliably check Landorus-T, Heatran, Sand Rush Excadrill, and Scarf Tyranitar. And thanks to its good defensive typing, it can cripple and check offensive Water-types such as Azumarill, Feraligatr, Mega Swampert, and Starmie. Rotom-W also cripples Mega Metagross and Mega Scizor with Will-o-Wisp, something that my team appreciates. In general, this is my switch-in against many physical attackers. Standard EVs; 44 Speed EVs outrun max speed Azumarill.

Bisharp (M) @ Lum Berry

Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head

Ah, Bisharp. I needed a Pokemon to knock off Chansey's Eviolite, since Mega Diancie, Latios, Rotom-W, and Celebi can't do much shit on the opposing Chansey. Oh, and the utility of Knock Off and its access to priority STAB Sucker Punch is something that is hard to forego. And yeah, Defiant is something that makes this threat unique from the the others; it screws up opposing Defoggers and Sticky Web teams, potentially being able to conduct a semi-sweep, if not sweep outright. I've been running Swords Dance in order to allow Bisharp to sweep without relying on Defiant, to act as a threatening win condition. +2 Attack Bisharp is pretty threatening for offensive teams, it isn't funny. Oh, Lum Berry allows me to set-up on slower status-inducers and since I dislike having my sweep cut short from LO recoil or from a burn or paralysis. The reason to run Adamant over Jolly because it increases the damage output and since outspeeding Adamant Mega Altaria as well as forcing speed ties on other base 70s is neither important nor relevant.

Additional comments

Formerly, I've been running Low Kick + Life Orb, but ZANBAKUResh had suggested that LO recoil would easily wear my Bisharp down. Also, Zephiros had suggested to run SD over Low Kick. SD + Lum Berry is pretty viable and will potentially benefit my team and since Heatran, Magnezone, opposing Bisharp, and such can be handled by teammates anyways.

Talonflame (M) @ Sharp Beak

Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost

Now, why would you run an offensive team without Talonflame? Talonflame's 130 BP priority STAB nuke is one of the most convenient revenge killing tools in OU, and combined with its great speed tier and SD makes it a serious threat. Anyways, SD Talonflame and Mega Diancie both have decent offensive synergy. Talonflame is able to remove most Steel- and Grass-types that threaten Mega Diancie, while being able to provide priority in order to deal with threats such as opposing Mega Altaria and Volcarona after they have used a speed-boosting move, as Mega Diancie may have trouble dealing with them after the latter is outsped. 176 Speed EVs allows Talonflame to outspeed base 115s and Scarf Tyranitar. Moves are standard as what you'd expect from an SD set.

Dropped members:

Former members

Ferrothorn (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Ferrothorn was added to the team in order to set up Stealth Rock while being able to provide a Water-type resist. Rocky Helmet was chosen over Leftovers / Shed Shell in order to punish physical attackers including those who enjoy fucking Mega Diancie (lol Scizor, Azumarill, Landorus-T, etc.) as well as Pokemon that dare U-turn out of him. Rocky Helmet is also something that KOes the opposing Pokemon after taking damage from Rocky Helmet + Iron Barbs. Also, Breloom is KOed 87.5% of the time with Gyro Ball after Iron Barbs + Rocky Helmet damage. Leech Seed is only Ferrothorn's means of recovery while also being able to chip off damage to opponents, despite the absence of Protect. Power Whip serves as a check to Water-types such as Mega Gyarados, Seismitoad, Quagsire, Starmie, Azumarill, and Gastrodon assuming they lack super-effective coverage. Gyro Ball is able to dent Fairy-types and offensive Pokemon such as Breloom, Latios, Mega Sceptile, Landorus-T and such, as again, provided they lack super-effective coverage. That is the reason for my decision to forfeit Protect - in order for the sake of extra coverage. Standard EVs.

R.I.P. Ferrothorn. Replaced by Celebi. November 2014 - April 19, 2015. Support Celebi > Ferrothorn was suggested by Enki.

Proof of Ladder Peak:

Was taken on January 30, 2015. If you want to see more, check the first replay; it shows myself hitting 1500s.

Replays:

Replays (in no particular order)

Repeater1947 vs. Noctum - A replay of my team hitting the 1500s mark.
CoolStoryBrobat vs. Repeater1947
Repeater1947 vs. Trinitrotoluene
Es Heatedline vs. Repeater1947

Importable:

Importable

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Protect

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 84 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Defog

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Bisharp (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head

Talonflame (M) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost

Image Credits:

Image Credits (in no particular order)

Celebi wallpaper submitted by Evanjosh17 on Zerochan
Talonflame by Ningeko16 on DeviantART
Mega Diancie Sword animation from the Pokemon anime
Latios + Pikachu animation from the Pokemon anime
Rotom-W Hydro Pump animation from the Pokemon anime
Bisharp animation from the Pokemon anime

Conclusion
Overall, the team was a success for me. Based on my experience, it was a solid team and this team was one of the teams that I felt comfortable using. As stated earlier, it was the team I used to hit the 1500s mark the first time, on January 30, 2015. At the moment though, I've probably tilted recently, so that's why I lost more frequently and had fallen to 1330s. At the moment, I'm not really laddering using my main account because of laziness/stress. However, the ladder tilt alone doesn't disprove my success with my team and I won't have any plans on dropping the team any time soon. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed. :)

 

[Repeater1947]

If necessary, I'm reserving this post for the threatlist.

 

[Betapf]

This is a rather standard, yet very solid team, and there is not really much that can be changed. However, Scizor is looking quite threatening against this team, as Talonflame and Rotom are the only Pokemon that can force it out, with Talonflame being worn down due to recoil and Stealth Rocks. That leads to Keldeo, which can wear down or 2HKO Latios which gives Latios some difficulties with defogging. Either HP Fire or Roost instead of Thunderbolt on Latios would come to my mind, but both changes would keep the other problem untouched.

Therefore I am suggesting Celebi > Ferrothorn, which gives you a better Keldeo check, a check to bulky waters (which enables you to replace Thunderbolt with something else), and provides momentum with Baton Pass. Gyarados could become problematic, but it really doesn't set up on anything bar Celebi and perhaps Latios if you decide to drop Thunderbolt. Nevertheless, it makes Scizor as well as Bisharp more of a problem, so Hidden Power [Fire] > Thunderbolt is a possibility on Latios.

Suggested Set

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 84 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Stealth Rock

 

[zbr]

Damn, I like that M-Diancie gif. If only it got a legit move called Diamond Blade or something, that'd be so cool am I right? [: Anyway, this looks to be a pretty solid balanced squad that has a really good chance of helping T-Flame break teams so that other members such Sharp/Diancie to continue winning the game.

At first glance, we notice that your team actually loses to Sand Offense with Scarf Tar. I understand you have Rotom-W but nowadays, common Sand Offense squads have something to deal with Rotom-W like Serp, Zard Y, Celebi, FatMana, etc. Scarf Tar traps Lati and revenges Bish with Superpower while your Sucker Punches does close to nothing. To mitigate this issue without changing up 99% of your squad, we are going to try and reduce the effectiveness of chip damage against your team. LO Bish + Rocky Helm Ferro means that they are a lot more prone to chip damage since LO Bish loses health as well as maintains susceptible to hazard and external damage while RH Ferro's only form of recovery is extremely passive and is easily played around. My first suggestion would be to switch Life Orb on Bish to Blackglasses. Since you're running the 4 attacks set and not the SD set, there is not much reason to run LO as it only gives more pressure to Lati and M-Diancie to ward of hazards. Also, with Tank Chomp being such a common mon in the metagame, your Bish is even more likely to be worn down. Next, we can have Rocky Helm on Ferro to Lefties. Not a major change in itself but it makes you less prone to chip damage, which is extremely detrimental to your team. Lastly, to solve the problem of Sand Offense, I suggest substituting Rotom-W for Specs/AV Raikou. I mean, you are already running an offensive squad, with this change, you no longer need T-Bolt on your Latios which allows you to free up a slot so you can run Roost to lessen your chip damage weakness.

Hope I helped [: And have fun with the squad ^_^

 

[Zephiros]

Yo dude, nice solid team! I also really love mega diancie due to her fantastic trait combinated to some really nice stats, and the fairy type is awesome too so i really appreciate the build. All in count, the team looks very very nice and i tested it out a little bit during the day and kinda wanted to suggest u a couple of possible adjustments to, possibly, improve the sinergy of these 6 bad boys so let's directly jump at the rate itself.

I see at least 3 huge holes in this team: Sand offensive teams (in general), Scizor and Stall teams. Furthermore, i see that both Excadrill and Ferrothorn can be a bit problematic at certain conditions.
But let me explain my reasons:

1) As ZANBAKUResh said above, your team struggles badly vs based-sand offensive teams that can really be hard to face up. In my opinion not only scarf Tyranitar can cripple the hell out of you, i think that the smooth rock set is, actually, even more dangerous since most of smoothTar match with life orb/air balloon Excadrill. Excadrill can pretty much ruin the wole team if Rotom is somehow already weakened since even Ferro is nearly 2hkoed by a life orb EQ. To make matters worse, you must consider that mold breaker drill don't even matter of levitate and both latios and rotom can be easily beated. At least you can check it a little better with ferro since most of molDrill (just guessing ) run choice scarf or air balloon.

2) That Scizor, man. Really, with the current ett offensive 3 atks scizor has a set up chance pretty much against 4/6 of the team. He can set up on latios, diancie, thorn and bisharp too and pretty much destroy you if rocks are up. Keep in mind that 252 Atk Sharp Beak Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Scizor: 127-151 (45.1 - 53.7%) and +2 252+ Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 80 HP / 0 Def Talonflame: 159-187 (50.1 - 58.9%) -> that means that u lost in every situation since if u click BBird you'll not be able to kill and recoil + dmg + rock = ko and if u click flare blitz u will not even be able to hit cuz bullet punch priority & stuff that we all know.

3) Damn, damn Stall. Despite you run a SDance talonflame ( which IS -imo- a good stallbreaker ) your teams really lacks a good answer to stall team since the ev spread and the moveset are basically offensive and can't really deal with stall mons like Quag, Suicune and even Clefable sometimes. Also, this team doesn't really like facing Ferro once that Talon is dead. He can hard wall 4/6 of your guys and it's definitely not funny to get leech seeded every damm turn ( lol ).

In order to solve these problems without completely destroying the team, i'd suggest a few changes:

1) Replace Thunderbolt with HP Fire on your Latios. This choice will allow you to deny a Scizor's set up and most likely OHKO him everytime (252 SpA Life Orb Latios Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 176 SpD Mega Scizor: 291-343 (84.8 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO ) and you'll be able to cripple Ferro when he comes on the back even if nowdays hp fire on lati@s is pretty common. Also, HP Fire allows you to lighten Drill's pressure out of the sand.

2) Use Swords Dance instead of Low Kick on that Bisharp. Since u run LK to hit harder various steel guys + Ttar, keep in mind that +2 Knock Off/Iron Head will ALWAYS hurt harder than LK itsefl. ( i calculated that +0 LK vs 252 +88 def Ferro is like 40% while +2 KOff does like 50% and more and same for Iron Head on Ttar pretty much ).

3) Change the roleplay of ur Talonflame and make it look like a little less Sweeper/RKiller and a little more stallbreaker with both Taunt and SDance or standard Taunt WoW. If ur particoularly in confidence with the original set&spread, make sure to at least change the Ev spread in 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd jolly nature AND follow Step 4.

4) Replace Rotom with Manaphy. This guy can really turn entire stall teams in pieces with the combo TGlow + Rain Dance, has 100 base in every stat which is not that bad if we're facing stall/balanced and he's got a really nice coverage too.

Hide

Boreas (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 160 HP / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Energy Ball / Ice Beam
( i would use energy ball because enemy's rotom could be a bit boring to deal with, plus i don't really think that ice coverage is needed right here

I hope my rate helped a bit! Good luck with the team!

 

[Repeater1947]

Re: Bisharp
Swords Dance Bisharp is pretty interesting and I tried it out a bit using this Mega Diancie team during the April Fools Giratina-O suspect test ladder and I realized it was pretty fun to use. As long as I could still somehow reliably check opposing Magnezone, Tyranitar, Bisharp, and Heatran, then I won't have problems on swapping Low Kick for SD. =]

And yeah, I hate the Life Orb recoil pretty much. I opted a Lum Berry when I used an SD set on the Giratina-O suspect ladder and realized how good Lum was, since it allows Bisharp to grab a free SD boost given the fact that opponents' status spam is pretty annoying. BlackGlasses might work too if it allows me to score important 1/2HKOes that Lum Berry can't achieve.

Re: Ferrothorn
Hmm. I'm not sure if Lefties is something worth considering though, as Rocky Helm allows me to KO physical attackers around 30% HP or less, saving me a few games and since my Ferrothorn is used more of to chip off damage on the opponent than to wall outright. I'll need to think about this since I lack Protect, I won't be able to heal effectively.
Re: Replace Rotom-W
While Raikou frees up a moveslot for Latios, the problem with Raikou > Rotom-W is the added ground weakness as well as losing a water resist and a ground-type check, which means that I lose a crucial switch-in to Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Heatran, Hippowdon, etc. Also, I lose a reliable answer to birdspam and opposing Talonflame actually beats Raikou provided it used SD on the switch, outspeeds Raikou, then nukes it with a +2 Flare Blitz.

In general, Rotom-W provides slow Volt Switches being able to pivot out to teammates without having the teammate getting punished by the opponent. Fast Volt Switches are something that I kinda dislike, as it still gets my teammate punished by an oncoming attack, requiring me to be prediction-reliant.
Re: HP Fire > Thunderbolt Latios
Actually, I opted Hidden Power [Fire] on the first draft of the team, but then I found Mega Slowbro and other bulky waters annoying as fuck, so I eventually swapped it with Thunderbolt. Less significant but still an important factor, losing 1 point on speed will render it meaningless to tie with other base 110s such as Latis, Mega Diancie, Mega Gallade, etc, which is something very important for a base 110 Pokemon, and it apparently saved me games with the fact of being able to speed tie with said threats. Ironically, Ferrothorn is only 2HKOed and retaliates with about 61-72% damage from Gyro Ball while Mega Scizor can beat me with a +2 Bullet Punch after SR.

I'm sorry if I was reluctant, but my experience allows me to state that HP Fire > Thunderbolt is likely more costly than rewarding and probably isn't worth it.
Re: Talonflame
120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spe is pretty much a bad EV spread, as its only use is to outspeed Thundurus while failing to outspeed Raikou and Scarf Magnezone and the extra bulk isn't relevant on an offensive spread. I can't find a slot for Taunt or Will-o-Wisp, since Flare Blitz rounds up its coverage being able to serve as the most reliable Ferrothorn check that my team has, since Latios otherwise takes a 61-72% damage from a Gyro Ball, and if Ferro manages to scout your HP Fire he may just switch out anyways. Also, take note that HP Fire is only a 2HKO on Ferro. And as said earlier, Mega Scizor can apparently smoke Latios with a +2 Bullet Punch after SR. Needless to say, Latios is an unreliable check to Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor.

Re: TG + RD Manaphy
Interesting Pokemon in order to take on stall and bulky waters with great coverage while also fucking Gliscor (something that can troll my team somewhat), but the only problem I have is fitting it to the team, since if I try to remove Rotom-W, opposing Talonflame can potentially 6-0 my team after an SD provided Mega Diancie is weakened enough. Also, if I replace Rotom-W, I'm not sure if I may have problems due to the fact that I may no longer provide slow Volt Switches. TG + RD Manaphy might be worth trying out though, since the stallbreaking abilities, the bulk and coverage, and importantly solving the bulky waters problem is something appreciated.

Post-test edit: sorry but after testing and replacing rotom-w, it has opened up more holes on the team. the team has now lost a crucial switch-in to scizor and landorus-t as well as being completely weak to opposing SD talonflame (having to be over-reliant on mega diancie in order to kill talonflame and bisharp needs to rely on 50/50s to kill talonflame). i have actually lost an estimate of 3 out of 4 games after replacing rotom-w. also, the team has now lost the ability to provide slow volt switches and it kinda hurts my momentum. given that my team is frail, i need to rely on sacking mons in order to get them in safely.

Re: Opposing Scizor and Ferrothorn
Although Mega Scizor may be a bit annoying to face, the suggestions advised in order to tailor against him don't really accomplish much nor make the team more efficient. Ferrothorn and Scizor won't be much of a problem if I manage to play around it, though.


In order to clear up any confusion, I'd like to say that this is not a Hyper Offense team. I appreciate all the time and effort you guys have put for the sake of rating my team though. I'm sorry if I had declined some of your suggestions, as I don't think it fits to my team's liking, given that some suggestions either open up holes for my team or don't accomplish much far (For example, Raikou may have freed up a moveslot for Latios in order to fill it up with something else, but now I'm now weak to Scarf Lando-T and Scarf Heatran. HP Fire > Tbolt lightens up the Scizor problem, but bulky waters can now troll me all day). I'd like to say to not be too hard on yourself, as that doesn't mean that I would be ignoring any future advice. =]

Post-test edits:
04-12-2015 Edit: Had changed Life Orb + Low Kick Bisharp to SD + Lum Berry. Shout-outs go to Zephiros for suggesting SD Bisharp as well as to ZANBAKUResh for being able to point out about replacing Life Orb. :]

 

[Enki]

Hey, I got your pm, sorry for being late, I'm a bit busy IRL at the moment.

A problem I'm seeing on your team is Mega Metagross, it can scare both Mega Diancie and Latios, Hammer Arm destroys Ferrothorn and it's not like Talonflame and Rotom-wash enjoy coming in on it, this is why I also agree with using Life Orb Bisharp over Lum berry the main reason you'd use Lum Berry mega Sableye, is already covered on your team, life Orb on the other hand gives you extra power, which is also very useful against stall teams.
However I must disagree with changing Rotom-Wash with Raikou, while it might seem a great idea this way the team gets destroyed much more easily by Excadrill.


Now then, I also think that life orb Thundurus is another problem for your team, being faster than all your member and being able to threaten them all with a combinaiton of Thunderbolt, Superpower/Focus Blast Knock Off/HP Ice, it should also be noted that Thundurus outspeeds all your member bar Sucker Punch bisharp, which is forced to a speed tie, and Talonflame, which... isn't the best answer for it, the rest of the team is either 2hked or directly ohkoed.

Rock Slide landorus-Incarnate and Sub Calm mind Keldeo are also other problems for you, latios does not have recover, and truly, majority of the times they are paired with a pursuit user like Scarf Tyranitar, Bisharp or Scizor.

As such, with all these things considered, I would change Ferrothorn to a Support Celebi

Support Celebi helps you checking non sd Excadrill, Lando Incarnate, Thundurus, Keldeo, while also still giving you a solid water resist your team needs, being also able to set up Stealth Rocks , and Thunder Wave to help nerfing dangerous threats like Mega Gyarados, Latios Scarf Tyranitar etc, its bulk is also impressive, allowing you to evem tank a Crunch from Scarf Tyranitar so that you can paralyze it later.


Obviously, with Celebi and Rotom-Wash on the team, I don't feel that Thundebolt on Latios is that useful right now, I would replace it with Roost for survivability.


Again, sorry for being late, here's a song for Mega Diancie x):

Sets:

Hide

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 40 SDef / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Giga Drain
- Thunder Wave

Ev spread allows Celebi to always get 3hked by Mega Metagross MMash, so that you can paralyze it and then recover easily, while still giving you bulk to take on Thundurus' HP Ice, and keldeo's Icy Winds.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

Bisharp (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head

Hope it helped, good luck!

 

[Gorechomp]

I managed to get to 1450 with this team. One of the best teams I've used in a while. Great team!

 

[chimpact]

I would probably try HP Fire or Recover on Lati to deal with Ferrothorn/Bisharp a bit better or help it check the pokemon you want it to. one HP Fire on Ferro allows you to finish it off with Moonblast later with Diancie so you dont have to worry about it unless ferro comes in on ferro and gains some lefties so be careful of that.

i like the core you have with diancie/flame, but I feel like talon adds more weaknesses to your team. with its sr weakness you are forced to defog, but your sr user is ferrothorn so youre not able to quickly pressure your opponent while the same cannot be said about your opponent.

I suggest to either make your talonflame the bulkier set or outright replace it with heatran. Heatran makes you a bit weaker to a few things like metagross, landorus etc, but it does make you less vulnerable to rocks. you still retain your f/w/g core.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 104 SpD / 156 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Roar

 

[Repeater1947]

re: Celebi - Celebi is a pretty interesting pokemon giving me a better answer to Keldeo and other offensive water-types while being able to cripple Mega Charizard-X, Mega Gyarados, Mega Metagross, Scarf TTar with Thunder Wave while also being able to provide me a reliable form of recovery and also being able to stall out LO recoil from opponents. I've tried it out and it's pretty succesful for me. :]

re: Bisharp - i decided to keep lum berry, since i just kinda dislike having my sweep cut short from life orb recoil and lum kinda gives me a free turn to set-up on opposing status-inducers such as rotom-w.

re: Latios - i like the idea of roost on latios. however, i pretty much lack sufficient offensive pressure to take down Mega Slowbro. the only problem i have with it is to find a slot for it, but i like the idea of roost though.

re: Heatran > Talonflame - sorry; decided to keep Talonflame since I'd otherwise lack a reliable form of priority, which means I now lack a revenge killer as well as making me miss out on the cleaning it does with SD. due to bisharp being my only priority user, my team is more prone to being revenge killed. imo it leaves my team more prone to mega lopunny, DD mega altaria, and belly drum azumarill.

i'm still not sure whether my decision about retaining talonflame may or may not be final. will post more thoughts tomorrow.

I appreciate the effort you guys had put to your rates though. Thanks to Enki and chimpact

 

[DennisEG]

hey man solid team, i think oppsing bisharp murder ur team knock off hit every thing and wear down easily rotom so i suggest a change ur bisharp set, and saw a couple of comment i've notice ur worried about Mega slowbro and that why u like tbolt latios, to deal with this threat u can try Perish song > thunder wave on Celebi o Heal block > Tbolt on Latios, i leave my suggestions sets if u wanna give it a go:

Sets

Bisharp (M) Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head

 

[Shurtugal]

Hello!

I like Diancie + Defog + Talonflame on this team, as it suits the SD Talonflame rather well. Celebi as well is a nice partner to Diancie, making this team an interesting rate.

However. Celebi and Latios together are terrible; apart from covering around the same threat, thus creating unwarranted repetition in structure, they're also both easy to pursuit trap, and that's not a good thing when you don't have too many good switch ins / ways around this. It doesn't help that one of the commonly used Pursuit users, Tyranitar, can easily be a clutch response to Talonflame, too, and possibly Diancie if it's a Scarf EQ / Iron Head variant. Kyu-B is another hard Pokemon to maneuver around; not exactly easy to switch into it and your Celebi and Rotom-W are free switch-ins for the most part. Gengar is another pivot that isn't easy to manage; especially with Talonflame's Jolly BB being lackluster without a +2, thus being incapable of a revenge kill. (Iron Tail Tornadus-T especially run you over, but I know that isn't exactly common enough to worry about much.) Lastly, Mega Gardevoir, opposing Diancie, and Sylveon can be problems for this team to worry about as well, as they easily punch holes into the team without much trouble.

To remedy this, I recommend swapping Latios for Defog Scizor. Mind you, I am not proposing a Mega Scizor; Scizor is capable of running Leftovers (if you prefer longevity) or other items (e.g. Occa Berry, Metal Coat, Sitrus berry, Lum Berry, etc.) (if you prefer to bluff Choice Band).

With pivot Defog Scizor, you now have an answer to Tyranitar, you can still remove hazards, you have solid switch ins to Fairy-types like Clefable, Gardevoir, Diancie, and Sylveon, while the bulky set can relatively check Gengar lacking Will-O-Wisp pretty good. By adding Scizor over Latios, you have one less Pursuit weak pokemon, making its presence less relevant regardlessly. You say Latios checks Venusaur, Keldeo, Amo, but doesn't Talonflame, Bisharp, and Celebi do this already? Scizor allows you to add a neat core with Rotom-W to make the VoltTurn, or as it was called in BW, The Scrotom core, grabbing more momentum for Talonflame and Diancie to pounce upon! The additional switch in to Lati@s does not go unappreciated, either. (And Tornadus-T lacking the Heat Wave are relatively checked better by this than Latios would.)

Scizor set

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

Hope this helps you! I rather enjoyed the use of Diancie + Defog + Talonflame + Celebi, as it seems quite efficient and a bit creative! I run a team with a similar core of Diancie + Defog as well, so I thought I could be of some help here! Good luck!

 

[Repeater1947]

hey man solid team, i think oppsing bisharp murder ur team knock off hit every thing and wear down easily rotom so i suggest a change ur bisharp set, and saw a couple of comment i've notice ur worried about Mega slowbro and that why u like tbolt latios, to deal with this threat u can try Perish song > thunder wave on Celebi o Heal block > Tbolt on Latios, i leave my suggestions sets if u wanna give it a go:

Sets

Bisharp (M) Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head

Re: Bisharp
I'm not into Low Kick + Life Orb Bisharp anymore, I just like SD set better as it's more threatening and I don't really wish to suffer from LO recoil and I appreciate having Bisharp being able to clean and sweep without having to rely on Defiant.

Re: Latios and Celebi
Hmm. I'm still adamant on keeping Thunderbolt on Latios, though. To be honest, I'm not a fan of Heal Block Latios. While Heal Block denies recovery from Mega Slowbro, Latios won't really do much in return after a -2 Special Attack. Also, I just feel that Latios' targets who have access to recovery moves is somewhat situational and could probably waste a turn. On the other hand, the reason for me to retain Thunderbolt is because I'd still need something to check the Water-types I wanted without having to be forced out after firing off a Draco Meteor.

Perish Song Celebi on the other hand does force out set-up sweepers, though it is a higher priority for my team to apply speed control, given that my team is fairly slow since they fail to break past the base 110 speed barrier as well as the fact that my lacks a Scarfer and since Talonflame is my only dedicated revenge killer.

Hello!

I like Diancie + Defog + Talonflame on this team, as it suits the SD Talonflame rather well. Celebi as well is a nice partner to Diancie, making this team an interesting rate.

However. Celebi and Latios together are terrible; apart from covering around the same threat, thus creating unwarranted repetition in structure, they're also both easy to pursuit trap, and that's not a good thing when you don't have too many good switch ins / ways around this. It doesn't help that one of the commonly used Pursuit users, Tyranitar, can easily be a clutch response to Talonflame, too, and possibly Diancie if it's a Scarf EQ / Iron Head variant. Kyu-B is another hard Pokemon to maneuver around; not exactly easy to switch into it and your Celebi and Rotom-W are free switch-ins for the most part. Gengar is another pivot that isn't easy to manage; especially with Talonflame's Jolly BB being lackluster without a +2, thus being incapable of a revenge kill. (Iron Tail Tornadus-T especially run you over, but I know that isn't exactly common enough to worry about much.) Lastly, Mega Gardevoir, opposing Diancie, and Sylveon can be problems for this team to worry about as well, as they easily punch holes into the team without much trouble.

To remedy this, I recommend swapping Latios for Defog Scizor. Mind you, I am not proposing a Mega Scizor; Scizor is capable of running Leftovers (if you prefer longevity) or other items (e.g. Occa Berry, Metal Coat, Sitrus berry, Lum Berry, etc.) (if you prefer to bluff Choice Band).

With pivot Defog Scizor, you now have an answer to Tyranitar, you can still remove hazards, you have solid switch ins to Fairy-types like Clefable, Gardevoir, Diancie, and Sylveon, while the bulky set can relatively check Gengar lacking Will-O-Wisp pretty good. By adding Scizor over Latios, you have one less Pursuit weak pokemon, making its presence less relevant regardlessly. You say Latios checks Venusaur, Keldeo, Amo, but doesn't Talonflame, Bisharp, and Celebi do this already? Scizor allows you to add a neat core with Rotom-W to make the VoltTurn, or as it was called in BW, The Scrotom core, grabbing more momentum for Talonflame and Diancie to pounce upon! The additional switch in to Lati@s does not go unappreciated, either. (And Tornadus-T lacking the Heat Wave are relatively checked better by this than Latios would.)

Scizor set

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

Hope this helps you! I rather enjoyed the use of Diancie + Defog + Talonflame + Celebi, as it seems quite efficient and a bit creative! I run a team with a similar core of Diancie + Defog as well, so I thought I could be of some help here! Good luck!

Defog Scizor is pretty interesting, though I'm neutral with that decision. Defog Scizor indeed helps ease the pressure on opposing Fairy-types and Tyranitar. However, it's just that I don't feel like neglecting Latios' synergy on the team. Latios was to added to the team in order to apply offensive pressure against Water-types while serving as a backup check to Amoonguss, Mega Venusaur, and Fighting-types in case Talonflame goes down, therefore reducing the pressure on taking them down even if SR is on my field. It also uses its decent defensive typing to come in on their certain STAB attacks. As such, I feel Scizor makes me more weak to Mega Slowbro, a threat I dislike. However, Scizor might not be that bad either. Then again, both Pokemon have its pros and cons on the team. I guess it's probably more of a matter of personal preference, I just like the Mega Diancie + Talonflame + Latios core.

I'm not going to officially add Scizor to the team, though I'll go take Scizor into consideration and try it out on an alternate draft of the team. Thanks for the suggestion, Scizor is somewhat interesting nevertheless. =]

Important notice:
As the thread has fallen inactive for a month and that I'm working on a new RMT, I'm no longer going to accept any further suggestions in regards to this team. I appreciate all the feedback I have received throughout the entire course of this RMT, as it means a lot.

 

[Shurtugal]

You say you need Latios to check Water Types / Amo / Ven / Fighting types, but doesn't Venusaur / Talonflame / Celebi already do this for you? I'm interested to see how the testing process goes! Tell me what happens and if Defog Scizor works for you.

 

[Repeater1947]

You say you need Latios to check Water Types / Amo / Ven / Fighting types, but doesn't Venusaur / Talonflame / Celebi already do this for you? I'm interested to see how the testing process goes! Tell me what happens and if Defog Scizor works for you.

I've tested with it a bit on about 5 to 6 battles, so pardon me if I haven't gotten much time to play; the team is old, so I haven't gotten much interest to ladder with the changes.

Imo, Defog Scizor doesn't seem to be bad either. both Scizor and Latios seem to have their pros and cons. Scizor allows me to reliably threaten Fairy-types, which are somewhat annoying and helps take away some of the pressure on bringing Bisharp in. It also gives me a better Fairy switch-in. The U-turn support forming the VoltTurn core with Rotom-W wouldn't seem bad either.

However, while I understand that I have Celebi to dispose of Water-types as well as Talonflame to remove Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Fighting-types I just decided to have Latios to take down Water-types that Celebi can't really do much in return (especially Mega Slowbro, which is annoying for this team), as well as being able to check Amoonguss, Mega Venusaur, Fighting-types without having to heavily rely on Talonflame to do the work (as Talon dislikes coming in while SR is on my side of the field).

However, I'm not saying Scizor is bad though. I'm kinda neutral about Scizor for now but atm, I just don't feel that it warrants enough on forfeiting the Mega Diancie + Talonflame + Latios build yet, nor if it's nescessary to add Scizor to the official team roster.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the rate though. =]

EDIT: As for now, I'll go add Scizor on an alternative, unofficial draft of the team. If ever I feel that Scizor works perfectly for me, then I'll go see what I can do to this team. Again, thanks for the Scizor suggestion.

However, this team (as well as this RMT thread) is kinda old and I'm now working on a new team, so I really don't have much time to continue working on this team and I might not continue to work on this team anymore.

9/25/2015 EDIT: I feel that I'm starting to like Scizor. Even though the team seems to have difficulties to Mega Slowbro, I'll see what I can do. Latios on the team was a bit more difficult to use, so I might as well replace it. I haven't used the team for ages though, so I'm not aware about the drawbacks anymore. Thanks for the rate!