Other Metagames [AG] A Broken Promise [R]

[Ransei]

A Broken Promise
​

Importable

RAEA (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed

AAEJ (Arceus) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

XAETI (Xerneas) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Defog
- Aromatherapy
- Toxic

GAER (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Roar
- Lava Plume

AAEBI (Arceus-Ground) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover

HAEJ (Ho-Oh) @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Earthquake

​

Here is something to listen to as you read.

​

Introduction
Press the tl;dr button below the backstory button if you want to skip over the backstory part of this introduction. Otherwise, you can click the backstory button and skip over the tl;dr button.

Backstory

Four years ago, my first laptop broke down. Because of this, I had to take one month off Pokemon Showdown. I spent some of my time off PS playing Pokemon Black and doing what I had done two years prior, training random Pokemon to level 100. You may ask, "Why is this relevant?" It's because throughout my time off PS, I was still into Pokemon and had also planned something else while playing Pokemon Black. I planned to have a team built for my return. I planned to create a new journey for myself on PS; a new chapter! I had this special team built from scratch using a pencil and a piece of paper, listing off the Pokemon, their moves, and their abilities, so that when I returned, I would be ready to use the team in battle. Four years ago today was when I returned to PS with the mighty idea I had for a team. Since that day, I have started contributing on Smogon, gaining ranks in PS rooms, exploring side servers, and exploring what other metagames Pokemon Showdown had to offer. After some time I stumbled across BH, 1v1, and eventually Anything Goes. I stuck with these metagames before Gen 7 came around. By the time Gen 7 came, I had retired my position as an active 1v1 and BH player but was still sticking around for Anything Goes. Despite finding a harder time enjoying the Gen 7 metagame as much as Gen 6, I decided it would be in my favor to make an attempt in becoming a better Anything Goes player, as I expected to stay within the AG community for a while. As the months passed by, I started severely losing interest in the metagame as it was getting more bland and even more irritating to play than Gen 6. This along with the condition of being unamused with the other metagames around that I used to play, caused me to go on a burn-out period, which lasted throughout 2017. During this period, the more I played the only meta I wanted to play, the more I was burned-out, but I still wanted to stay on PS to help out the communities I've been recognized in. Because of this, I, of course stayed. This burn-out period eventually carried its way through 2018. By that time I had no longer any realization of how the Gen 7 Other Metas I used to play were like. As days passed in 2018, I got slower and slower at building teams, losing more and more interest in the metagame. By the time 4 months came, I virtually dropped out, with my only other indication of being a part of AG being the roommod symbol I had, but almost gave up. Truth be told, to most people it could've been my only indication throughout my entire burn-out period. During my time away from Anything Goes I decided to try Ubers out. At first I felt it would be more fun to try out competitively, but one month in I dropped out of Ubers for my personal distaste in the current meta. Flashforward a few months, and the state of Anything Goes was at an all time low. Various users started becoming more toxic in the room than ever before, and a few AG representatives were retiring their position for reasons similar to why I stopped playing in addition to the increasing toxicity. I knew this was something I had to take some sort of action in as I didn't want to see the AG community fall. Generally speaking, Anything Goes is one of the very few metagames with a concept I wanted to stick around for, and for the greater part of the community, I deeply held and still hold to this day respect for their contribution and efforts to make this metagame as developed as it is today. I never really took part in these contributions, mostly since I was either too worried of saying something stupid or too worried that I wouldn't be of any help. However, my low self-esteemed self was there to witness it for all these years. I never felt I've done anything much for AG other than just sitting in its room, making roomtours all day and trying to stay attentive, despite currently having to watch 2 other rooms and a groupchat. Realizing all this gave me a desire to return the favor, but this desire alone wasn't strong enough. I needed a trigger to begin, for I knew at this rate, getting back into the metagame was going to be difficult. I wasn't sure what this trigger was going to be, until I noticed great AG roomstaff were separating from the metagame. The more hopeless our community felt, the more I felt the need to do something I wasn't fully determined of. This kept going until Chloe's resignation from AGTL shoved me over the edge. Chloe's departure gave me the final message to go out there and play instead of sitting there, watching the community fall apart. At this point, I've decided to become a full on AG player again, but an even bigger one than I was before. This was and is my chance to start from a new beginning and create a new journey, just like the one I've set four years in the past!

tl;dr

I've decided that I'm getting back into AG. The team currently in display is the first and only team I've built since.

Welcome to my second RMT. For those of you expecting some crazy achievement out of me for this RMT, don't. I didn't come here with much. I didn't come to showcase a high ladder rating or to celebrate a benchmark for the amount of posts I've made. I came here to mark a new beginning for myself as a player. I came here to seek the help I need in order to make this team as great as it could possibly be. Despite not having any valuable records to display, I do have to show evidence that I've used this team a good bit before this RMT begins, which will later come with replays. However, I don't think a few replays are enough.

Here's some evidence:

33-1 is nothing in Anything Goes. Neither is 87% GXE.

Testing Legend 001 was the account I primarily used for this team. However, I have also used this team quite a bit throughout the 4 weeks of the AGLT ladder rounds, through challenges against better players, and through several roomtours, which in a stunning amount of them I've either won with the team or got finalist.


Thank you for reading my story and the intention I had of making this. Now onward to the actual RMT. I wanted this to not be as huge as my first RMT, but as you can clearly tell, I'm off on a bad start.​

Teambuilding Process

Coming up with a first Pokemon to build this team around on my new journey came without question. I knew Mega Rayquaza, the undisputed best Pokemon in our current generation's singles competitive play, had to have been my first choice. Now when thinking about Mega Rayquaza, I went a little rogue. I didn't want to start off using a standard set. I wanted my first Pokemon to have a much more obscure set not seen in the metagame very much while at the same time wanting a set that can work in a truly competitive environment. As a result, I thought to myself "What's the weirdest Mega Rayquaza set I could run and have still work?" I eventually decided to give it dual dance.

For my second Pokemon, I wanted something that was able to fill in one of my dual dance's biggest flaws, which was slow priority. This was something I figure'd I would like to fix, so I chose none other than E-Killer. Unlike Mega Rayquaza, Arceus holds the standard E-Killer set. However, like Mega Rayquaza, I am not to believe it's an entirely standard set. I decided to do a little experimenting with EVs and give it just enough speed EVs to outspeed Mega Rayquaza, while putting what went missing in its Defense. I have also given it the less common Chople Berry in order to allow myself to surprise Marshadow users trying to switch in thinking they would get a free KO off Close Combat.

Realizing my weakness to Marshadow despite the Chople Berry I've given to Arceus and with inspiration carried over from one of Catalystic's OMPL teams I've used prior to building, I quickly decided for the third Pokemon to be max speed Choice Scarf Xerneas.

Admittedly, when I ordered the team the way shown at the top of this post, it was for aesthetics. The big bird looked a bit off... Well anyway, chronologically, Arceus-Ground was the fourth Pokemon I built for this team. I realized right away after building Xerneas that I needed a bulkier defogger with more freedom. I also realized I needed to start preparing for Primal Groudon. Arceus-Ground is a bulkier Pokemon able to defog more freely and act as the preparation I needed for this team to have a higher success rate.

After Arceus-Ground, I figured I would need a strong Pokemon that was able to last long and consistently hurt physical sweepers. I also wanted an effective wall for Fairy-type moves as it seemed the team lacked a Pokemon greatly efficient for that role. Ho-Oh fulfills these qualities with ease so I decided to recruit it on the team.

If I want to sweep, I must first realize that my best chances come when rocks are on the opposing side of the field. Having a reliable rocker in hand would sure help this team, especially the Mega Rayquaza out for when it gets the chance to perform large KOs. I also badly needed a proper Kyogre check and a Pokemon to phaze setup sweepers like fellow Arceus, Xerneas, and Mega Rayquaza. For these reasons I've chosen Primal Groudon to be my reliable Stealth Rock user.
​

The Team

RAEA (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed

With its role being to set up and sweep, RAEA is potentially the biggest powerhouse in this team. The main goal of RAEA simply is to utilize both Dragon Dance and Swords Dance in order to shred through opposing Pokemon. Because of this, it carries a Lum Berry, which is used cure RAEA of any status condition it receives setting up, switching in, or even attacking. It is best useful against teams with Spore Smeargle lead and against bulky Pokemon carrying Will-O-Wisp. Keep in mind, Will-O-Wisp is still a threat to this set and if RAEA stays burned it'll find itself becoming hardly usable. When creating this set, I thought about how RAEA would best be able to set up. I decided to give it 248 HP, hoping it'll allow RAEA to take almost the least amount of chip damage possible, and also gave it max Attack to deal off maximum damage after setting up. One of the biggest things at risk is its speed EVs. Without setup, it's slow. However it's more easily able to pull off a Dragon Dance. With 266 Speed, one Dragon Dance still enables it to outspeed and at the very least, severely damage potential threats like Marshadow, Destiny Bond Mega Gengar, Mewtwo, other Mega Rayquaza, and any Arceus form with Will-O-Wisp. 248 HP EVs ensures a survival from a Judgment off a 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy's Judgment assuming Mega Rayquaza isn't chipped, enabling it to set up a Swords Dance if given the right opportunity. It also 1v1s Scarf Mega Rayquaza that lack Draco Meteor. Swords Dance allows RAEA to gain +2 Attack, which grants it the ability to OHKO Ferrothorn and almost every standard defensive Arceus forms that don't resist Flying all with its STAB. It is also able to counterplay Charm and Memento users like Chansey or even the Whimsicott in thimo's Eeveepass team. After the two turns of you using Dragon Dance and Swords Dance, under Stealth Rock, RAEA would be able to OHKO almost every relevant Pokemon in the metagame that doesn't resist Flying-type, including bulky walls such as max Defense Zygarde, Lugia, and Giratina. It also OHKOs standard Mega Rayquaza with Extreme Speed. Correct me if I'm wrong but, after one Swords Dance and one Dragon Dance, the entire relevant part of AG gets 2HKOed at bare minimum. This may be a hard strategy to pull off, but when it does, it's highly rewarding.

AAEJ (Arceus) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

During the early days of Marshadow's release, Chople Berry quickly became the most common item on Arceus. As time passed, Arceus users felt safe running other items in the metagame, particularly when they had at least a good Marshadow check. I have good Marshadow checks, but I felt AAEJ was the safest Pokemon to switch into for when I would predict a Spectral Thief or even Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike, especially when on a team paired with Kyogre. Admittedly, AAEJ is a bit weak for the current era without Life Orb or Silk Scarf, unable to sufficiently OHKO threats like Mega Rayquaza and Kyogre at unless rocks are up at +2 Attack. However, Chople Berry is still a great item used to get Marshadow out of the way with little to no trouble at all using Shadow Claw to hit super effectively, and at +2 Attack, AAEJ is still able to pull off devastating amounts of damage to most of the metagame with its STAB Extreme Speed and the Earthquake attack it uses for Primal Groudon and Steel-types. One of the biggest problems it has though, like Mega Rayquaza, is being susceptible to burn. The EVs of this Pokemon are different than your regular Chople Berry Arceus for its speed. I decided to experiment with its EVs based on my curiosity of what it'd be like to speed creep Mega Rayquaza by giving AAEJ just enough speed EVs to outspeed Jolly base 115 Speed. As you can tell, the other 40 went towards Defense for better chances of survival.

XAETI (Xerneas) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Defog
- Aromatherapy
- Toxic

Out of this entire team XAETI has the highest speed tier. With max speed Choice Scarf, XAETI is given a total of 489 Speed. When combined with Moonblast and Fairy Aura, this Pokemon is able to outspeed and either revenge kill or hinder many known threats in the metagame. These most especially come in the form of Mega Rayquaza, Marshadow, Mewtwo, Scarf Yveltal, Scarf Kyogre, Ultra Necrozma, and fellow Xerneas before they manage to use Geomancy. It also ensures decent chip damage on Mega Gengar before it gets KOed. Choice Scarf also allows XAETI to act either as a fast defogger or a fast status cleric, in case status is tearing down this team. XAETI can mostly be sure it finds its way to help the entire team before it goes down. In case it's facing support Pokemon such as Arceus-Ground and Arceus-Water, or bulky walls such as Lugia, Pyukumuku, and Lunala, I've decided to give XAETI Toxic, forcing the foe on a timer to keep their Pokemon on hand.

GAER (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Roar
- Lava Plume

This max Defense bulky monster was engineered to take in physical attacks just so it can bring out Stealth Rock. This EV spread is best known to have a trait of surviving Waterfall attacks from Life Orb Mega Rayquaza and can take 2 Dragon Ascents or even Earthquakes from non Life Orb/non Choice Band variants. It also ensures the ability to survive against other Precipice Blades Groudon. Other than Stealth Rock and its best damaging STAB move, Precipice Blades, I gave this Pokemon Roar to deal with any Pokemon I predict would take GAER for granted and set up in front of it. This move helps especially against Mega Rayquaza, who can otherwise sweep the team with Life Orb and one Dragon Dance. Lava Plume is used for mixed Fire STAB damage against Pokemon like defensive Yveltal, who would much rather get hit by physical moves. Lava Plume can also be used to fish for burns when the user feels confident that either GAER would be able to take a boosted attack, or wouldn't be needed to win.

AAEBI (Arceus-Ground) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover

AAEBI pretty much holds the standard Arceus-Ground set. The main purpose of AAEBI is to hold itself off as a bulky defogger for better use of my Ho-Oh and Mega Rayquaza. It is also my main Primal Groudon check, as it's able to switch into Primal Groudon under most circumstances and either beat it or scare it away. Judgment is capable of OHKOing Primal Groudon without defensive investment and 2HKO other Primal Groudon and Steel-types such as Arceus-Steel, Magearna, and offensive Dusk Mane. Ice Beam is made for Dragon-type or Flying-type Pokemon and especially works for when Rayquaza is predicted to switch in, giving you the opportunity to OHKO it when correctly predicted. Ice Beam can also KO defensive Zygarde after Judgment is used in an attempt to stop Power Construct from activating. A bulky defogger is always best when they have some sort of recovery, so I gave it Recover. This move allows AAEBI to last much longer in battle and even give it the capability of beating Life Orb Marshadow in a 1v1.

HAEJ (Ho-Oh) @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Earthquake

As I mentioned in the teambuilding process, I wanted a Pokemon that was able to hinder physical sweepers and take Fairy-type attacks while lasting long so I didn't have to take a bigger risk of losing Primal Groudon against team with Kyogre. This Pokemon is here to deal with what Primal Groudon can deal with but either when the Groudon isn't around or this Pokemon is safe to switch into. Sacred Fire is a fire coverage move with a 50% chance to burn foes, ultimately giving itself the chance to hurt physical sweepers like Arceus and Mega Rayquaza, Focus Sash Pokemon like Smeargle and Excadrill, and also Steel-types that resist Ground, such as Celesteela and Ferrothorn. Choice Band allows Ho-Oh to do unbelievable amounts of damage; enough to OHKO Celesteela with Sacred Fire and uninvested Kyogre using Brave Bird, leaving one less major threat for the team. Max speed ensures it would speed tie Primal Kyogre at bare minimum and outspeed Modest Xerneas, Modest Yveltal, and Jolly Excadrill, who under most circumstances isn't able to OHKO HAEJ with Rock Tomb. Brave Bird is HAEJ's main STAB move, which it uses with Choice Band to OHKO or 2HKO most of the unresisted metagame. HAEJ's other move given is Recover, in case it took too much damage either from Stealth Rock, recoil, or an attack and just switching out and giving it the Regenerator boost wouldn't be enough. Earthquake works best on Rock-types who attempt switching in, such as Arceus-Rock, or great Pokemon like Primal Groudon, who resist Sacred Fire but is weak to Ground. Overall this set is mostly if not fully standard in comparison to other Ho-Oh and works pretty well for this team regardless.
​

Threatlist

Lugia and Defensive Lunala
First thing to point out is, my team seems a bit weak to competitive Lugia and bulky Lunala sets. This is because these two Pokemon are able to effectively deal with my setup sweepers either by Lugia using Whirlwind on them, or Lunala using Will-O-Wisp. Both Lugia and bulky Lunala have one large thing in common, which is their bulkiness, multiplied by two when their HP is max. Without the setup my Pokemon have, which they already threaten, there isn't much I can do against these bulky fiends other than to rely on my Scarf Toxic Xerneas and hope they stay in for Toxic. I can also use Ho-Oh, but there are times where it can get too risky, especially with Lugia being able to throw a Toxic and spam Roost. Outside of Ho-Oh, this team seems to simply lack the power to deal with viable Multiscale and Shadow Shield Pokemon in this metagame.

Bulky Water-types.
Arceus-Water and defensive Primal Kyogre give this team the same problems as Lugia and defensive Lunala, except it also carries Water-type STAB and Ice-type coverage, which are great parts of my team's weaknesses. These Pokemon can use Will-O-Wisp and Scald to ruin this team's sweepers while taking hits from the rest of the team just fine. Defensive Kyogre is known to be able to use Rest, so after taking hits it restores itself back to full HP. It also has Primordial Sea-boosted Water-type STAB, which can only efficiently be stopped by Primal Groudon.

Setup Sweepers
Without Roar on Primal Groudon, unchipped Mega Rayquaza and Xerneas are very easily able to setup and sweep the entire team right from the start. If they are unchipped, my revenge killers wouldn't do enough damage altogether to KO the sweeper and the team suffers a loss. This is the same case with Ultra Necrozma, but to a smaller extent since the team has a more efficient method of taking care of Ultra Necrozma sweeps through Xerneas. Without Xerneas, Ultra Necrozma might not have to worry so much.

+

Mega Rayquaza + Kyogre core
Teams with Mega Rayquaza cored with Kyogre may be difficult for this team to deal with, as Primal Groudon is the only efficient check this team has for Kyogre, and if Mega Ray gets sacked in front of the Primal Groudon, Desolate Land is neutralized, leaving room for Scarf Kyogre to get sent out, forcing me to sack a Pokemon.

Replays
Here are a couple replays for this RMT:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-805862903 vs Pigeons (Against Burned Mega Rayquaza)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-816091100 vs Taja888 (Dual Dance Mega Rayquaza sweep)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-816253373 vs Maxray Lad (Thimopass, tours plaza finals)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-816102951 vs Edgar Allan Poem (Bulky Lunala, Mega Rayquaza, and Kyogre)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-816239053 vs Zenithial (Vs Bulky Lunala)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-815891181 vs Frogger1387 (Against pogre and ttar)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-811998691 vs Bananaben15 (Lighter Dual Dance Mega Rayquaza sweep)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-808516399 vs Arushiii (vs GeoXern + Ttar + Lunala)​

These replays prove more than anything that I've used this team in various battles against players from decent to great.

Conclusion
Thank you all for looking through this team. Hope you enjoyed looking at this RMT. Let me know if you advise anything to change. Like I said, I came here to make this team as good as it can be and to mark a new beginning for myself. Instead of causing unnecessary attention by tagging folks and trying to be a hog for likes, I will instead show this around for the AG community to see. I apologize if anything in this RMT sounded unnecessary or arbitrary as I have filled this RMT with a backstory and details from what I know and believe so far. I also apologize if I missed anything vital in the process of writing this.

 

[Lavaclaw]

Hey,

The main problem I see with your team is that there simply is not enough firepower. While you may have a mRay, CB Ho-Oh, and eKiller, neither mRay or eKiller has a boosting item, and CB Ho-Oh can't break through a number of walls, especially as it is Jolly (for example, Arceus and Giratina.)

My suggestions:

Change pDon from Physically Defensive to Specially Defensive. It is your main Kyogre check and thus should have appropriate EVs to do so. The standard spread of 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD with Relaxed should work, but I would personally go with a bit more SpD or a boosting nature (Sassy).

I'd also use Overheat (or Fire Blast) over Lava Plume, as 30% burn chance is not reliable and will lose you games if you don't burn in one or two turns. Overheat packs a bit more punch behind it and can outright kill some frailer targets (such as slightly weakened offensive Arceus, while also hitting Xerneas and Yveltal harder.) I'd also consider Dragon Tail over Roar, as even though you will be slightly weaker to Geomancy Xerneas, you gain an edge over DD/SD mRay as you deal a considerable chunk of damage as you phaze them out. This is just my suggestion though, and I haven't used this team at all, so take it with a grain of salt.

CB Ho-Oh seems kind of weird; you emphasized longevity and being able to take on Fairy-types as its main job. This seems to be better done by defensive sets. You also get Toxic that way so that Lugia/Lunala/bulky Pokemon in general are not as problematic.

Double Dance mRay seems not very good to me. I'd rather use LO DD/SD or CB because they hit harder immediately. Lum Berry means that without setup, you're easily walled by defensive Supportceus, and even +2 Dragon Ascent doesn't OHKO. The longevity is not too much of a problem because you're trying just to take down a few of your opponents Pokemon with you. I know you wanted it to be unconventional (and everyone knows how much I love unconventional stuff too,) but Double Dance really doesn't work a lot of the time.

Alternatively, you could take mRay in a different direction and use Choice Scarf. While two Scarves may seem weird, you are now much better against opposing setup sweepers (particularly Adamant DD mRay.)

ScarfXern should almost never run Timid. Losing firepower is simply not worth outspeeding more Scarf Yveltals, because you beat Yveltal anyway. You really don't outspeed anything else with Timid > Modest other than maybe Scarf Lunala which isn't even all that common.

eKiller running Chople is also kind of weird, because you don't seem particularly weak to Marshadow otherwise. I'd use LO or Lefties instead.

Groundceus looks good, just maybe consider running a bit more speed to speedcreep other Arceuses.

Snarky joke here

QC 1/3

 

[baconeatinassassin]

Hello Ransei,


Nice team, but as you and Lavaclaw point out, the main issue with your team seems to be that it lacks the appropiate tools to break stall and semi stall. Here are some changes:

>

on

I know that this set is what the team is built around, but I recommend changing the bulky Double Dance Rayquaza to a mixed set with Toxic. I know this sounds kind of weird, but I feel that you can forgo Extreme Speed on Rayquaza as Arceus provides enough priority with its own STAB Extreme Speed, and Choice Scarf Xerneas can revenge kill other threats. With Toxic, Rayquaza can pressure walls such as Lugia, and you can also bluff Scarf on Rayquaza which can come in handy in certain situations. Draco Meteor can lure Giratina and can kill Tyranitar after a Dragon Ascent or 2 rounds of rocks, which helps Ho-oh a lot.

calcs

252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Tyranitar: 109-130 (27 - 32.2%) -- 74.3% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock
4 SpA Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar: 305-360 (75.6 - 89.3%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
4 SpA Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Giratina: 525-619 (104.1 - 122.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

edited set

RAEA (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
- Toxic

& Substitute >

& Earthquake/Shadow Claw OR Facade > Earthquake/Shadow Claw on

While it does increase your weakness to Marshadow, I think Substitute on Arceus is better than Chople w/ three attacks. It helps vs status from slower support Arceus, and it still has use vs Marshadow, as if you get one up it's forced to Close Combat, lower its defenses and it takes a large chunk from Shadow Claw. You also get to block Leech Seed from Celesteela, which is another issue for your team's sweepers. However, if you decide to use V-Create on Rayquaza, you can use Facade instead of Earthquake and keep Chople Berry, taking advantage of Arceus that want to status you.

edited sets

AAEJ (Arceus) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Substitute
- Shadow Claw/Earthquake (use eq if not eq ho-oh)

AAEJ (Arceus) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Facade
- Shadow Claw/Earthquake (same applies here as the first set)

Modest > Timid on

As Lavaclaw said, you don't really need Timid on Xerneas, the only situations I would see it being useful in is vs other scarfers (Xerneas, Yveltal) and if Scarf gets Knocked Off. The extra Sp.Attack is useful, such as against support Arceus.

calcs

Modest:
252+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy: 195-231 (44 - 52.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Timid:
252 SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy: 178-210 (40.1 - 47.4%) -- 48.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

set

do it yourself it's not that hard

Dragon Tail & Toxic > Roar & Lava Plume on

You mentioned issues with Rayquaza in your threatlist, and Dragon Tail allows you to force it out while taking a solid amount of chip on it. I feel you don't need Roar on it as you have Arceus in the back to revenge kill Rayquaza and Xerneas, and Ho-Oh can tank a hit if Xerneas is not Thunder (or non-existent Hidden Power Rock). Toxic meanwhile is one of the best moves in the game, and is especially nice on Groudon as you can pressure Defoggers such as support Arceus, Yveltal, Giratina, etc., and kill/allows Ho-oh to switch into Pokemon that can't get Toxiced, so it serves a similar purpose to what you mentioned Lava Plume can do in your post.

edited set

GAER (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 28 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Toxic
- Dragon Tail

defense investment allows you to live a Z-Earthquake from Arceus Ground after rocks (does 6.25% if groudon hasnt transformed yet)
252 Atk Arceus-Ground Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 72+ Def Groudon-Primal: 320-378 (79.2 - 93.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
while speed ivs are to underspeed Defog Giratina to prevent Defog spam, while still creeping 0 speed Dusk-Mane by 1 point

Changes on

First off, I think you need more 'reliable' defoggers on a team so weak to rocks (I don't class Xerneas as reliable), and Ho-oh can fit that role perfectly while still maintaining an offensive presence. I would use Defog over Recover, as it's the least necessary move there and you can still get recovery by pivoting in and out of Ho-oh. It forms a nice hazard removal core with Groundceus, ie. Ho-oh can Defog on a lot of common Stealth Rock setters like a lot of support Arceus, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, etc. and Groundceus can Defog on Arceus-Rock, Arceus-Poison and Tyranitar.

The rest of the options are mainly personal preference, but if you decide to use Defog, I do feel that you should use Toxic instead of Earthquake so you can actually force Arceus formes out, and if Rayquaza is using the mixed set you can lure one of the two things Earthquake hits (Tyranitar). If you do decide to make this change, I feel that you need to use Earthquake on Arceus as otherwise you can't really lure Calm Mind Refresh Arceus-Rock. You can also use Adamant for extra power, but you do sacrifice being slower than bulky Support Arceus and other threats around that speed tier (Modest Yveltal/Xerneas, Dragon Dance Zygarde). Finally, you can use a bulky spread if you are concerned about Geomancy Xerneas.

sets

HAEJ (Ho-Oh) @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Defog/Earthquake
- Toxic/Earthquake

given speed allows you to outspeed max def lugia & adamant dusk mane, along with other pokemon creeping those two

HAEJ (Ho-Oh) @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Atk / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Defog/Earthquake
- Toxic/Earthquake

standard bulky ho-oh spread, allows you to live a +2 thunder from modest xern

I shouldn't have spent the two hours or so on this, but I hope my advice helped!


Edit: I just realised how weak your team is to Swords Dance and Calm Mind Arceus Formes e.e, you can replace Xerneas with Arceus-Fairy with Will-o-Wisp and Roar/Calm Mind to try and combat that issue, along with Defog Perish Song Arceus-Dark over Arceus-Ground to help in last mon situations while still being able to remove hazards. It can also act as a reliable counter to Ultra Necrozma, which your team would be weak to if you replaced Xerneas. You should add this to the top of the threatlist/in the setup sweepers section, there isn't much counterplay for them on your original team.

how did i not see this weakness

Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Judgment
- Recover
- Perish Song

with

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Calm Mind

OR

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Roar

These changes do create new issues, but I think that they don't matter as much compared to this one. We might be able to try and come up with better ideas through testing, that's all I can do for now.