(mostly triage) MEGA RAYQUAZA CHECK/COUNTER ARCHIVE
mray has been a popular topic in the suspect thread, and for good reason, because many players are struggling to prep for it. even resists can get bypassed by the specs aerilate set or killed by coverage from triage ray. because of this, i'd like to share a bunch of sets that i came up with that actually have a decent matchup vs this mon. its time for the full experience.
TRIGGER WARNING: DISGUSTING POKEMON
section 1: scarfers
choice scarf users typically make good ray checks because they can handle triage while some are bulky enough to take on even aerilate boomburst. here are some scarf users that can take on mray:
Dialga @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sunsteel Strike
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
scarf dialga is a mon that i think is incredibly underrated. thanks to its flying resistance it can actually switch in on all moves from specs ray and threaten it out with faster draco. triage fails to do anything of note in the matchup as well. really the thing that makes this mon so good is that he actually gets momentum on both aerilate and triage ray so you can uturn out on their steel or get rocks which is a HUGE help vs mray. also kills shed and mega diancie and weakened xern/mmx/mmy/gars. overall a pretty nice mon, only issue is tc ray killing you with cc
Zekrom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Hammer
- Bolt Strike
- U-turn / Trick / Dragon Hammer
- Stealth Rock
similar vein to dialga except he can die to draco, tc hammer, and diancie espeed. not all bad though because he destroys ogre and has a different set of weaknesses so you can imposter proof with a different pokemon (dialga prefers ph mmx but you can use a much wider range of stuff including fairies and ices) and he can get rocks up in more matchups than dialga.
simba (Necrozma-Dusk-Mane) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Ice Hammer
- Sunsteel Strike
- U-turn
- V-create / Stealth Rock
simba. this mon isnt a dragon type so again, different set of weaknesses including ghost, dark, and fire to imposter proof with (you need offensive imposter proofing for all regens). the nature is kind of annoying because without jolly you miss out on mmy and the base 130 gang but without adamant you only have a 75% chance to ohko mmy. im pretty sure mega metagross or whatever is usable for this too so if you think metagross is good for whatever reason you can use him as well. anyway one of the biggest strengths of simba is his fairy resist and stab sunsteel giving him a MUCH better matchup against fairies like diancie and even allowing him to potentially switch into ph xern
Gardevoir-Mega @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Trick / Stealth Rock
- Fleur Cannon / Light of Ruin
- Psystrike
- Volt Switch
Kyogre-Primal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Ice Beam
- Volt Switch
- Water Spout / Trick / Stealth Rock
(obv other mons like blaziken/palkia/mray/etc are potentially usable with a set like this, anything that can actually ohko ray works. these are just the sets i believe to be most viable)
scarf dazzle is not the best mray counterplay because u cant switch into boomburst unlike the earlier scarfers, but the espeed immunity is pretty cool to allow it to take on triage as well as other ates. sometimes they can clean as well especially ogre if ur running spout and theyre better at killing off other mons like mmx/gar. basic idea is you can switch into anything except for like sleep move from triage ray and force em out.
section 2: assault vest
the idea of random av is that its usually on mons that would be running not super helpful like expert belt (im still a big fan of this item though) so you dont miss out on too much of the stuff the mon could do before while being able to take attacks from mray. its not super great though because you cant get up rocks to get initiative.
Kyurem-Black @ Assault Vest
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Bolt Strike
kyub was the first thing that came to mind because of his ability to evade coverage moves with espeed, normally he cant take +3 wing very well but with vest you can actually survive after rocks most of the time. the specific moves can be changed, this is a cool wallbreaker kyub set that im a fan of but you can run other stuff like vcreate, boomburst, explosion etc if desired.
Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator / filler
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Spectral Thief
- Psystrike
- U-turn
this is an old dmdw set that im bringing back for a bit here. av mmy has actually really good special bulk and kills off mray with even timid icebeam. triage ray really has no way of breaking through it outside of sleep moves or maybe sash. mmy can also take on other pokemon such as ph xern with this set, there are other techs you can use like light of ruin (for mmx), steel coverage, and sunsteel (for diancie + shed) but im not sure where they would fit on this set.
Aerodactyl-Mega @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Dragon Ascent
- Icicle Spear / Head Smash
- U-turn
regenvest aero is a pretty wack mon but it provides a super consistent switchin to all mray sets except band sunsteel. i mean, +3 giga does like 55 to this mon and you can just spectral. the big issue with this guy is that you cant really kill ray without head smash, a generally weird move. i think aero in general should rise on vr maybe bc it matches up incredibly well vs ray, even without a dedicated counter set such as this one.
Zygarde-Complete @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spectral Thief
- Power Gem
- U-turn
- Thousand Arrows
regenvest zyg in general is a really solid triage ray counter because hes so fat and not weak to any common attacks. he can even switch into modest boomburst and live around two-thirds of the time. this set is kinda weird (power gem is to kill ray without dying to imposter) so maybe use some other moves if you want idk.
section 3: dazzling and stuff
Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Aspear Berry / zmove
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Anchor Shot
- Recover
- Photon Geyser / Stealth Rock / Psystrike
im not a huge fan of this set because of its mediocre breaking power. unstabbed unboosted ice beam/anchor are good at killing ray and diancie but little else, same w psychic move. recover is to beat imposter. i dont know if psychic move is needed last slot bc no gar is staying in. aspear is to dodge imposter icebeam freezes (speaking of which freeze chance is honestly pretty nice for this set, helps u be less passive) while zmove is to actually kill things hopefully.
Gengar-Mega @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Shell Smash / Quiver Dance / Stealth Rock / Tail Glow / Sludge Bomb
- Secret Sword / Sludge Bomb
heres a much better pokemon in general, dazzle gar. this guy has a super flexible third move and can function as an early game breaker and a sweeper while being nearly completely imposter proof (imposter icebeam can hurt but by definition you cant get worn down into priority range). you need modest to guaranteed ohko ray from full, timid is a 50% roll, but if you have other ways to chip down ray and youre more scared of +spe variants like some aerilate ones then run timid.
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Fairium Z / filler
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Close Combat
- Stealth Rock
- Moongeist Beam
even more flexible mon than gar. im a big fan of mmx, i cant find the post but in bh suspects when pdon was legal, people were saying that all it needed to do the things it needed to do were its stabs and cb, the ability and other 2 moves were super flexible. mmx is a lot like that because you literally just need a fighting move then outside of that the set is rly customizable. this one is z fleur to kill gira and mray but you can run a ton of other things like something else over rocks (altho this mon is a really good rock setter). there are even other dazzling mmx sets like cb.
other dazzling guys like scept, phero, and bee are also viable but im not a big fan because they tend to have less breaking power and can also struggle to actually kill mray with no boosting item.
things that are actual garbage and should never be used: dazzling on defensive pokemon (they all lose to sword/moongeist), liquid ooze (u die).
section 4: teams + conclusion
so you guys might be wondering where these mons fit into teams. despite their decent viability, they can be pretty awkward to use, especially scarfers in particular are weird and can give up ur momentum. im not really used to using a lot of these pokemon because of my preferred slower playstyles, so i dont think im the best authority on this part.
i'd like to see what you guys can come up with though.
i still think mega ray is too much for the meta because of how it makes a lot of stuff near unviable, but hopefully this compendium will make it stop being quite as dominant.