Background info on me as a player, I'm your pretty average player, peaked 1520 elo on this team, made an alt to climb on, currently 18-4 with the team.
Introduction
First off, I designed this team off wanting to use Mega-Altaria, then I wanted some bulk and power to go around it, so I ended up turning it into a fairly balanced team. Which, when played properly, can setup and really destroy a game, with a mixture of bulk, and set-ups.
The basic strategy I've formed with this team consists of Volt-Turning to get momentum (Landorus-Therian/Rotom-Wash), and setting up rocks with Heatran, and baiting switch ins to punish with chip damage from rocks, as well as Pursuit Trap baiting Starmie, Latios/as, Alakazam and many other psychic threats. I believe this team is well balanced, and works against the majority of threats; However, any evaluation on this team, and changes are welcome to be heard.
The Team
Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure/Pixilate
EVs: 248HP / 168 SpA /92 Spe
Modest
- Hyper Voice
- Roost
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
So to start off, I feel like this is pretty standard for a SpA set on Mega-Altaria; however some run Heal Bell over Earthquake, and a very common switch in for Mega-Altaria is a Heatran, and that's where Earthquake comes in use, as from experience, it can OHKO everytime, or at least do a good 70% dmg if its a Def set. The EV spread gives it some key bulk, allowing it to take more hits, and still dish out relative damage while retaining enough speed to not be sluggish. This bulk allows it to handle Mega-Charizard X, and Mega-Lopunny.
Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Swords Dance
I've tried Adamant Bisharp for a long time, it's honestly a huge threat, but with his base 70 Spe, he's just slow, which is what Sucker Punch makes up for, but I've found myself wanting to outspeed certain threats, like Defensive Lando-T, Rotom-W, Adamant Mega-Altaria, Dragonite and Gyrados. His ability, Defiant is brilliant to switch into anything that will lower a stat, as it will boost, instead. A good example of this, is predicting a Lando-T switch, getting the Atk boost, and sucker punching a team to death. Iron Head obviously deals with Fairy-types, and anything weak to Steel. Swords Dance can give you the power to annihilate a team that can't deal with a SD'd Stab move, and Pursuit allows you to trap things like, Alakazam, Latios/as, Starmie and any other threat weak to Dark moves. His role is to back up any fairy type that wants to deal with Altaria.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 SpA /252 Def
Nature: Calm
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
I chose Heatran, because I've always been a big fan of using him on my team, due to how high his base SpA is, and how much damage he can dish out, while taking hits from various special sweepers. Lava Plume covers my weakness to steal types (in addition to Fire Blast on Altaria) and allow me to do decent chip damage to anyone switching in, and perhaps a burn. Earth Power allows me to challenge other Heatrans, and in most cases kill them. Taunt is an important move, because it really can stop a lot of stalls, and hazards from messing my team up, which is what im prone to. Predicting a switch and Taunting on Heatran is really a game changer for this team. Flash Fire also allows him to switch into Fire-type moves and do some big damage.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Nature: Bold
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
My physically defensive wall. He's an amazing switch in for most physical threats, and cripples them with Will-O-Wisp. Pain Split allows it to mess with Blissy/Chansey and in general allows it to stay healthy. Hydro Pump does decent damage to most physical dealers and just in general, wall a lot of threats. Volt Switch does decent chip damage, and when paired with Lando-T's Choice Scarf U-Turn, you can gain some serious momentum.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def/ 232 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
This guy in most cases is my lead, if not him, it'll probably be Rotom-W. His speed + Scarf allows him to outspeed any non-scarfed Mega, such as Lopunny and Manetric, and outspeed a couple Scarfed Pokemon, too. Earthquake gives good coverage and damage, U-Turn completes my Volt-Turn core, which gives momentum, and sometimes leads to a frustrated opponent. Stone Edge deals with Tornadus, Talonflame and basically any other flying type. Intimidate is an amazing ability to further cripple physical threats, when paired with Rotom-Wash, another reason I picked him. This guy's a big threat on my team, and should not be used as a suicide lead. He also can deal with Mega-Lopunny Leads, but outspeeding them, superpowering them, as well as dealing with a lead Ferrothorn, but doing roughly 54% of their health with a super power.
Serperior @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power Fire
- Giga Drain
This guy is a HUGE threat, when played right. The amount of games I've mopped up due to having removed his main threats (Heatran, Altaria, Talonflame, etc.) and allowing him to setup and just destroy. Contrary is an amazing ability, that allows him to get +2 from his Leaf Storm, and do massive damage to any water type switch in, including Keldeo, one of the Pokemon I worry about the most against this team. Dragon Pulse gives some more coverage, allowing him to kill any Dragon-type, HP Fire, allows him to deal with Grass-Types, such as Ferrothorn, Giga Drain allows him to stay healthy after his Life Orb hurts him. His only downfall is his low SpA, but he makes up for it in his terrific Speed.
Conclusion
I feel like this team is relatively well balanced, but if played wrong, can go extremely wrong. I'd really appreciate some help in identifying weaknesses, ways to improve the team, and any change in general, I am willing to try out.
Here is an importable, I am not sure on how to make it so you click the button, and it hides/unhides the text, as this is my first thread (if someone could tell me, how, it'd be appreciated), so here's a Pastebin: http://pastebin.com/wiy8AUCC
