ORAS Ubers As Cold As Ice - Arceus-Ice Bulky Offense

[Cheryl.]

As Cold As Ice

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new RMT! Today I will be showcasing a really cool team made around a really cool mon in Arceus-Ice, who I think is one of the most underrated threats in Ubers right now, as Ice STAB moves are really rare to come by and are really dangerous to a lot of teams! This team peaked at around 1500 on the ladder, which isn't great but I don't ladder much anymore anyways, but yeah, let's get right to the team!
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Teambuilding Process

I built the team around Arceus-Ice, who while an underrated threat, does need some support in order to function, mainly hazard removal. I chose Giratina-Origin as my Defogger as I prefer it over Latios because it checks PDon a bit better, and also checks EKiller and adds a nice phazer to the team.

I added Primal Groudon to the team because it's PDon lol, and also because I wanted a Xerneas check and a check to lots of other things, like Primal Kyogre. I originally went with the bulky support set, but as you can see later, I replaced it with the ParaDancer set because a later member brought Stealth Rock to the team, freeing up PDon.

I added Ho-Oh and Mega Diancie to the team next because Ho-Oh adds a nice wallbreaker for Arceus-Ice to capitalize on, and also checks Darkrai due to Sleep Talk and adds another Xerneas check. Mega Diancie adds further hazard removal due to Magic Bounce, and also soft checks some mons like Ho-Oh and adds more offensive presence and speed to the team.

Dialga was the last member to the team, as I needed a more solid Mega Salamence check and a secondary check to POgre, and since it brung Rocks too, it freed up PDon's set, letting it run SD.

The Squad:

Snow Miser (Arceus-Ice) @ Icicle Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Thunder

Arceus-Ice was the Pokemon I built this team around, and I must say it's been pretty solid thus far. Ice STAB is super hard to come by in Ubers, and Arceus-Ice makes good use of it, as most teams aren't prepared for strong Ice attacks, combined with good coverage in Thunder to smack Water-types like Arceus-Water. This serves as my main win condition, and it's really good against stall as well once the Blissey is gone (You can't set up on it considering it runs Snatch now, or it just Toxics you and you die inside). It also functions as a soft MegaMence check, giving it a bit of utility if the team needs help. While IceCeus needs a lot of support, such as hazard support, in order to function, with this support it becomes of the more deadly Arceus forms in Ubers, and should definitely be given some chance to shine.

Demon (Giratina-Origin) @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 Atk / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Shadow Sneak
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake

Giratina-Origin is the main hazard remover for this team, while also functioning as a PDon check (Except for Lava Plume burns >-<) and a phazer, as well as a check to stuff like Deo-A with Shadow Sneak. I use Earthquake in the last slot over Shadow Force to deal good damage to Primal Groudon, but to most importantly prevent Klefki from coming in and setting up Spikes wherever it pleases. I prefer Tina-O over Latios, as said in the Teambuilding Process, for it's higher bulk and ability to check Extreme Killer Arceus, who otherwise is a thorn in this team's side, and even then Shadow Claw variants can dent Tina-O, but it still remains a good glue member for the team, and I'm glad to have it on! Also if you want, you can use ParaHex Tina-O to disrupt Xerneas switchins and it's nice if you get totally pissed at PDon burning you when it Lava Plumes.

Red Giant (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 200 HP / 96 Atk / 176 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Thunder Wave

Primal Groudon is pretty much mandatory for any Ubers team, and for good reason, as it checks a bunch of shit, is really powerful, and can surprise the opponent with it's variety of viable sets. The set I've chosen here is the ParaDancer set, my all-time favorite PDon set, as it lets PDon act as a supporting wallbreaker (or sweeper) as it TWaves the stuff it checks, mainly Xerneas, and can set up SDs on fatter teams and start to wreak havoc. I chose this set over the SR set because Dialga running SR meant that PDon was freed up to run a more offensive set, which helps with the offensive nature of this team. Not really much to say about PDon since everyone should know what it does by now, but yeah it's a really awesome member of the team and I'm happy to have it on!

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

Ho-Oh adds a great wallbreaker to the team with it's Choice Band set, and adds a check to Xerneas (And non-Stone Edge FairyCeus!) and Darkrai as well, which made it a perfect fit to this team aside from the SR weakness. Ho-Oh is able to mush up a lot of walls for Arceus-Ice to take advantage of, which is really nice, and with Regenerator, it isn't worn down as easily as you might think, aside from it's crippling 4x Stealth Rock weakness. Honestly there's not much else to say about Ho-Oh since the set is pretty standard already, but I can definitely say that it's one of the most threatening Pokemon in Ubers.

Bubblegum (Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power

Mega Diancie is the chosen Mega for this team, and it's a really cool mon in Ubers too. It helps our two SR weak Pokemon due to Magic Bounce bouncing back hazards, and it adds a really fast mon to the team to outspeed threats like Latios (Who runs Modest so no speed ties) and also be a neat offensive check to mons like Ho-Oh and unboosted MegaMence. A Timid Nature may seem weird on a mixed offensive mon like Mega Diancie, but Timid actually doesn't change many of the rolls on Diamond Storm, so it doesn't really matter, which is nice. Basically, Mega Diancie gives the team a fast offensive mon that has a bit of utility to it, which is really good, and it's also good against the standard HO teams due to anti-leading Deo-S and checking Darkrai, making it a really nice and underrated Poke imo in Ubers.

The Time Lord (Dialga) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder
- Flash Cannon
- Stealth Rock

Dialga was the last member added to the team, and probably is the mon I use most in Ubers aside from PDon (duh) due to it just fitting onto a bunch of my teams. Dialga adds Stealth Rock, another MegaMence check, and some more offensive pressure as well due to it's powerful Draco Meteor and coverage. With Shuca Berry, it also helps deal with mons like Primal Groudon and Arceus-Ground, denting them hard with Draco Meteor. I chose Thunder over Fire Blast for this team as I wanted another way to hit WaterCeus and POgre and it also hits Ho-Oh, which is a plus. The 16 Speed EVs let Dialga creep past the usual 12 Spe EV mons, like Tina-O. Personally I think Dialga is a really good mon in Ubers, and I'm definitely glad to have it on this team!


So that's the team! Now I'll show you the threatlist, importable, all that jazz!
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Threatlist

EKiller Arceus: I seriously hate this mon so much, and it sucks that it threatens my team a lot. While I do have two checks to it in Tina-O and Dialga, they are both easily worn down, and once they're gone, it can just set up on say, a Moonblast from Mega Diancie due to it's bulk, and then proceed to wreck the team. However, it does depend on which set it plays, as if it's not a Shadow Claw set, Tina-O completely walls it, and if it's not an EQ set, PDon and Mega Diancie can both dent it before going down.

PDon: Honestly not way too much of a threat, but just an annoyance. While Dialga can dent it with Draco Meteor and live a Precipe Blades, and Mega Diancie can revenge it with Earth Power (Tina-O checks it too!), Rock Polish sets are a huge threat due to outspeeding all my team and hitting it hard. However, defensive sets are easily worn down and not as powerful, but PDon is still a threat.

Ho-Oh: While Mega Diancie checks it, it still doesn't enjoy taking one of Ho-Oh's STABs or an Earthquake, and Ho-Oh can just spread burns or nuke everyone with it's STABs and coverage. However, it is sort of slow, and Thunder paralysis and Mega Diancie checking it means it's not way too much of a threat.

Importable

Snow Miser (Arceus-Ice) @ Icicle Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Thunder

Demon (Giratina-Origin) @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 Atk / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Shadow Sneak
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake

Red Giant (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 200 HP / 96 Atk / 176 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Thunder Wave

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

Bubblegum (Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power

The Time Lord (Dialga) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder
- Flash Cannon
- Stealth Rock

And so that's the team! I hope you enjoyed this RMT and have fun playing with this team, which I hope enlightens you to the awesomeness that is Arceus-Ice! And as always....

Keep On Dancing

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[Cynara]

for an Arceus-Ice team this is pretty solid build, I can see a good attempt to cover as many threats possible, though like these kind of builds, they always tend to struggle with something.

The weakness to Ho-oh and E killer is noticeable,. Though I dont understand why you didnt include SD ghostceus in your weaknesses list as it's argubally just, if not more threatening as E killer.

As it's hard to make changes without making the team struggle with different threats


An idea you could try is Jolly SD Stealth Rock Don to outspeed opposing Ho-oh and to break through arc-water/etc better and running skarmory over Dialga, skarm could fit spikes aswell to create more pressure and to justify the SD arc weakness, while having something that could at least surprise revenge Ho-oh, though this leaves you more prone to Gengar/kyogre.

An alternative is dropping tina-o and dialga for defog Latios and Defensive yveltal and running t-wave rocks don, though this doesnt deal with the ho-oh problem, though it deals with the sd arcs that would otherwise threaten you and Def yveltal can be a momentum killer so.

Arc-water and klefki over dialga is the obvious optimal change for a solid Diancie Ho-oh build but it destroys the purpose of the rmt

Good Luck with your team, sorry I cant give a defined answer on this build without removing Arceus-Ice, these kind of builds always tend to struggle with threats no matter what suggestions you gave with.

 

[Minority]

Hi BrandonBeast. In regards to how you structure this you can actually treat Arceus-Ice somewhat similar to Arceus-Water since they both check Mence and lack Defog, so long as you compensate the extra weakness against Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon in exchange for the mild offensive boon. Anyways something that might work here is using a Defog Latios over Shuca Dialga. What this does is that it allows you to take some of the pressure off of Gira-O since you aren't constantly trying to play hazard control with it when you want to maintain it as a EKiller and P Don check. It also gives additional options against Primals at the cost of now having to relegate Primal Groudon to hazard control. The drop of a Mence check here doesn't hurt that much since it is somewhat redundant with Arceus-Ice and because the rest of the build is able to prevent free setup. As Cranham already mentioned you can go one step further from this by replacing Giratina-O with defensive Yveltal.

I would probably further solidify potential Primal weaknesses by running a fast Ho-Oh. To keep Xern in line you'll need to keep the P Don spread you have or one that is similar, minimum of 0 HP and 216 SpD. Unfortunately the team is still somewhat Xern weak, especially to those that can remove Thunder Wave and beat Ho-Oh. I'd attribute this to a lack of strong priority anywhere in conjunction with the lack of a solid secondary check. There isn't an easy way to fix this other than by slapping on a Klefki somewhere which is redundant with use of Mega Diancie. Otherwise there isn't much to say, this is a pretty typical bulky offense that does an okay job at compensating for Arceus-Ice instead of an Arc that has better defensive synergy.