ORAS OU Blademasters Unite!

[Chocopot]

BLADEMASTERS UNITE!

This is a team I basically threw together because I wanted to try out a lot of new trends in the metagame and they actually all fell together into one (more or less) coherent team. I've had some success with this team but I don't ladder a whole lot. Really looking forward to getting some input into the team, particularly on Gallade since I think he's really under-utilized and the standard set really doesn't give him too much credit.

The basic premise focuses around a relatively standard offense M-Gallade/Bisharp/Clefable core with a really strong defensive backbone of Slowking and Tangrowth and Heatran to counter a few specific threats and provide hazards. The team has no hazard removal since most of the team resists stealth rock or has regenerator to mitigate it and it generally has enough momentum that you really don't want to be trying to spike-stack in front of it.

This team is super-customisable and so I've included some 'other options' since almost everything can have other sets and I'm constantly tinkering around with it to better cover specific threats. The importable and the given description is the version of the team that's had most success but I've included the options in case people think they are superior. In general I think the team probably lacks speed control and would benefit from the inclusion of Thunderwave/a scarfer somewhere. You'll see this in the options but I haven't found a configuration I like yet.

IN DEPTH

Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Zen Headbutt
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance

Mega Gallade is really where the team all started, it was one of my favourite designs when ORAS came out and after ben gay posted about it in the viability rankings I decided to dust it off. Gallade is Adamant because it really hurts, particularly after an SD. The EV spread hits a speed stat of 300 which outspeeds anything at the 100 speed tier (Charizard, M-Gard etc.) running a neutral nature, the rest put into bulk just to take hits better but doesn't hit a specific benchmark. Drain Punch & Shadow Sneak are a great combination with an Adamant nature as the combination will KO a number of threats like Mega Metagross which Gallade just can't handle otherwise. It also avoids needing to speed tie with the likes of Latios because a +2 Shadow Sneak has a 50% chance to OHKO. If you haven't played with this set before I suggest you do because it will surprise you. The biggest thing you lose from not running Jolly is the ability to outspeed Keldeo but the team has other switchins for this.

Gallade's role on the team is fairly simple, either its breaking early/mid game for Bisharp or sweeping late game cleaning up Bisharp's mess. In terms of switch-ins, Gallade in base form is pretty flimsy so you're looking for weak special attacks like Volt Switch. You want to mega evolve as early as possible to get access to that great bulk. None of regular Gallade's abilities are very useful but you can switch into weak non-STAB knock offs from the likes of Tangrowth and pick up a boost I guess so I went with Justified.

Other options: Gallade has a lot of other options but my favourite alternative is to have Zen Headbutt, Drain Punch, Ice Punch and Thunderwave. It plays very similarly to Glare Serperior in that most of the switch-ins to M-Gallade hate to be paralyzed and it makes them much easier to be picked off by the rest of the team but most of the 'mons you'd send in to sponge a t-wave like Landorus-T and Rocky Garchomp will not like taking an Ice Punch to the face. You could also run the standard Jolly SD with Ice Punch but that feels a bit like a cop out.

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

Not sure what to say about this. Standard SD Bisharp doing what a standard SD Bisharp needs to do. The combination of SD and priority on both Gallade & Bisharp mean that both offence and stall do not like handling the two of them. Went with Lum Berry to be able to set up in front of Slowbro easier and not necessarily be forced out by Rotom-W but I've used life Orb as well and the extra power is nice.

Other Options: This is really your 'anti-offence' slot on the team and you can do a lot with it. I've run Weavile but found it difficult to make room for hazard removal on the team to support it. I've also used Scarf Bisharp with pretty much the same set only Pursuit in place of Swords Dance. It caught a few people off-guard but ultimately was a bit of a gimmick to I went back to SD.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled

CM Clefable started off being here primarily as the obligatory Mega Sableye switch-in and its one of the best. Thunderbolt is an interesting tech I saw on a team from DennisEG which lures in the likes of Talonflame & Skarmory thinking they can wall you, it also gives you a way to damage steels like Mega Metagross & Scizor but I wouldn't recommend that as you can't do an enormous amount of damage with it and they can hit you very hard. Thunderbolt also helps with the CM Slowbro match-up since it doesn't expect you to be able to hit it super-effectively. It can also hit Volcanion (which is everywhere) on the switch but very few people would switch in Volcanion to Clef fearing Thunderwave. Like all lure-sets when playing with this Clef hide Thunderbolt as long as you can for the surprise factor. EV and Nature are smogon standard that allow you to switch into all the things you're supposed to, particuarly electrics on this team.

Other Options: You can run Thunderwave if you want since this team could really do with speed control, its not something I've ruled out, but the lure-factor of thunderbolt has been key in some battles. You'll see below for Heatran that when I had scarf Heatran I had Stealth Rocks on Clefable but it made 'fable much less threatening.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Offensive Heatran is here as a check to some very specific threats including, but not limited to: Offensive M-Scizor, Talonflame, Volcarona and Mega Charizard-X. Air Balloon is there to ease prediction in case Char-X has Earthquake or Volcarona/Serperior has HP Ground and as a one-time Sand Rush Excadrill check to take pressure off Tangrowth in the match-up against sand. Stealth Rock is here because I couldn't really fit it on anywhere else. Stone Edge is for Talonflame and Volcarona but really Heatran wishes it also had room for Flash Cannon to check M-Altaria but that's just not the way things are.

Other options: None really, I've run scarf here to ease the match-up against offense but that necessitates Stealth Rock Clefable which I think hurts the team but I'm open to suggestions.

Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This was a set I've wanted to try out for ages because I think Tangrowth is great. Phy Def Tangrowth is the business! Hidden Power Fire is to hit the grass types that want to absorb Sleep Powder, particularly Ferrothorn since otherwise you're basically gifting it a free layer of spikes. Leech Seed/Regenerator/Giga Drain mean you can afford to run Rocky Helmet for some important chip damage. Sleep Powder can stop set-up while giving switch-ins and setup opportunities for both Bisharp and M-Gallade. Tangrowth is not running Knock-Off because I found it over-lapped too much with Bisharp. In terms of how it plays you need to be careful what you want to put to sleep since this team relies on sleep to check some set-up sweepers like M-Altaria.

EV spread is stolen from ben gay but tbh its been working so I haven't gone for a better one. Tangrowth forms a really strong Regenerator Core with Slowking and the two are hard to take down.

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Power Gem
- Ice Beam

This is something else I've been dying to try out for ages but the metagame was never particularly friendly to it. Now with heavy special hitters like Volcanion & Nidoking running around its Slowking's time to shine! Forming a great Regen core with Tangrowth and a FWG core including Heatran Slowking tops off the team well. Most people expect a really passive SDef set but AV Slowking is an amazing pivot that manages to stay healthy through Regenerator while hitting deceptively hard by having a modest nature and EV's in Special Attack. The EV spread is taken from the smogon analysis and allows Slowking to take super-effective coverage moves from the likes of Mega Charizard-Y & M-Alakazam successfully and hit back hard. I'm using Power Gem over Fire Blast to be able to hit Volcanion & Mega Charizard-Y super effectively and so Slowking isn't set-up fodder for the likes of Volcarona. Besides I feel like the main target for Fire Blast is Scizor/Mega Metagross and I'd probably rather be spamming scald to try and burn Scizor as it comes in. Slowking is no longer a completely safe switch-in to Mega Metagross since a lot are carrying Thunderpunch these days and Scizor is almost surely carrying Knock Off/Bug Bite so Slowking should be trying to burn them and running. Psyshock is being run over Psychic because CM Keldeo became a problem.

Slowking should be played as a pivot into powerful special attackers like Keldeo/Nidoking and either hitting them back super-effectively or forcing them out to give a free switch-in to one of the team's main attackers.


THREAT LIST
The biggest problem tends to be powerful attackers who can hit the two pivots super-effectively:

- Mega Pinsir in a big problem for this team if it gets set up, the only pokemon it can really afford to set up on are Bisharp & Tangrowth though. Otherwise I'm reliant on sacrificing something and trying to hit it with Bisharp on a Sucker Punch which is not good. Typically it tries to set up in front of Tangrowth thinking its AV and I get to put it to sleep or Slowking and Power Gem gets it. I came up with the idea of Thunderwave Gallade almost specifically to lure this.

- To handle Mega Char-X well I need to have preserved Heatran's Air Balloon which can be challenging.

- Life Orb Tornadus-T is a good example of a mixed attacker who I need to pivot around and predict a bit but Slowking/Clefable can normally handle this handily enough.

importable

Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Zen Headbutt
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance

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

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Power Gem
- Ice Beam

I'd just like to say thanks for reading. I've really enjoyed playing with this team and I hope that you will too. I'd really encourage people to try out some of the team variations particularly T-Wave M-Gallade since they definitely change up how the team plays. I'll take any and all suggestions on board!

 

[diminom]

Is there any reason why you have Mega Gallade instead of Mega Medicham? I will do my full review later, but I was wondering because it sounds like you use Gallade for wallbreaking, which Medicham does better.

 

[Dr Ciel]

Hey, decent team.

This is a pretty solid team you've got here. I really like the Mega Gallade + Bisharp and dual Regenerator cores as they're both very potent. Unfortunately, as you said, you're pretty weak to DD Zard X, as it can set up on Clefable all day long, seeing as she lacks Thunder Wave & can proceed to sweep your team. Heatran is unable to stop it as Stone Edge is only a 3HKO and Slowking has a slight chance to be OHKO'd by a +1 Dragon Claw after Stealth Rock. To help remedy this, I would suggest running an Alomomola over your Slowking. You do lose Slowking's amaing typing and pivoting ability, but in return, you now have a solid switch-in to Mega Zard X and have a way to whittle Mega Pinsir, plus you keep the Regenerator core. For some smaller changes, consider using Close Combat over Drain Punch on Mega Gallade. Given its offensive nature, Mega Gallade can do huge damage with Close Combat, boosted or not, turning it into an insanely powerful wall-breaker. Another thing to consider is running Stun Spore over Hidden Power Fire on Tangrowth. Double Powder Tangrowth is a pretty sweet set for Tangrowth, as it can cripple something switching in to set up for a good majority, if not the entire game. That's all I got for now. Hope you found my advice helpful !

Alomomola

Alomomola @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 36 HP / 220 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic / Knock Off
- Scald

Tl;Dr

Slowking

--------------------------->

Alomomola

Gallade

: Drain Punch -> Close Combat

Tangrowth

: Hidden Power Fire -> Stun Spore

Good luck !

 

[Chocopot]

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the comments:

diminom Great question and it's one I asked myself when choosing Gallade. I suppose I would say the reason on this team is that the extra bulk means that you can run drain punch effectively which gives it the opportunity to be able to sweep later and also set up more than once throughout a game. Also the combination of SD + Priority Spam from both Bisharp and Gallade is really potent for this team which Medicham couldn't replicate. E.g.: it's easier to face revenge killers like Bisharp since on this set Sucker Punch maxed out at 57% (on phone so can't post calcs) then hit with drain punch and come out healed up. Medicham will take max 87% damage from Sucker Punch and will then either be KO'd having taken prior damage or be weakened for whatever's next. I suppose what I'm saying is that the extra bulk and the ability to heal back with Drain Punch are the main reasons and also because, depending on the team, either Gallade or Bisharp could sweep.

Dr Ciel I'm defintely going to try out Alomomola and actually I agree that I should go to Thunderwave on Clefable as well, I'll retest it as well. I worry about going full-grass Tangrowth as it leaves it unable to do anything back to the likes of Ferrothorn while it sets up spikes but the better move is actually a switch in that situation anyway so I'll test it out too.

Thanks again guys, keep the comments coming if you think of anything else.

 

[diminom]

Hi Chocopot,

I actually made a pretty similar to team this, so I will try my best not to be biased when writing this review, but I think that a lot of you issues you said you have can be fixed quite easily.

First off,

I generally think Dr Ciel solution to fixing the issue of your clefable being setup fodder is pretty good. However, I noticed when looking at your team you have an extreme weakness to status. Tangrowth and Slowking are very weak to toxic as it puts them on a timer and makes a lot of things that they check 2HKO them or at least have the potential to. Not to mention Gallade and Bisharp hate burns and destroyed by thunder wave. Thunder Wave spam in particular seems to be very common nowadays and it really seems to do a number on your team, as once one of your pokemon gets burned or thunder wave that pokemon will have a very hard time doing its job. This is especially true on defensive teams like yours. So because of this issue, I would recommend running a Heal Bell Unaware Clefable. Heal Bell does give up very important coverage moves like thunder wave and flamethrower, however I believe Heal Bell will help your team a lot especially against stallbreakers like Mandibuzz and Mew that like to run toxic and twave. Unaware will also accomplish something very similar to thunder wave and will help you a lot against calm mind sweepers and stallbreakers.

The set I would consider most for this job is the

Unaware Cleric Set. Which would allow you to pass wishes to Mega Gallade and Bisharp, as well as Heatran, a pokemon that benefits a lot from wish passes as he does not have a reliable recovery. This set would help you against many pokemon and support your team. This set is also considered the best Unaware set for Clefable (Moonblast, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell) so I would recommend the most. However, if you believe like I do that the Unaware Cleric set is too passive for your team you could always use an Unaware Calm Mind set (Calm Mind, Moonblast, Moonlight, Heal Bell). While this set is not considered standard it still makes a good cleric with heal bell with the added utility of making a great late game sweeper, checking CMbro, and being slightly more aggressive then the wish passing cleric. Whatever set is your choice as I have tried out both sets and they seem to work great. Also sidenote you could just run Heal Bell instead of Thunder Wave on the Magic Guard set, however you will be used as setup fodder for the likes of Charizard-X, Pinsir, Slowbro, and other sweepers.

Next I would recommend

Hippowdon over

Tangrowth. Hippowdon functions very similarly to Tangrowth as a bulky physical wall that checks the likes of Mega Lopunny, physical M-Diancie, Terrakion, Landorus-T and so on. However the benefit of Hippowdon is that he checks many other threats to your team better than Tangrowth, even though he is not a good water type switch in. In particular he is not 2HKO'd by Pinsir and he can OHKO Mega Pinsir with Stone Edge, plus he can check offensive variants of Charizard-X and other fire types which your team struggles with. He also has access to Stealth Rock, freeing up your Heatran to other sets like Choice Scarf or Offensive Flash Cannon, and giving your team a more reliable stealth rock setter. Overall, I believe Hippodown can benefit your team more than Tangrowth, and while he does not have access to Regenerator he does have a reliable recovery which can make up for it. Also as a sidenote, if you chose to run Hippowdon then Heatran could run Choice Scarf, HOWEVER Hippowdon could benefit from using toxic and stone edge (so toxic, stone edge, EQ, and slack off) as toxic helps Hippowdon beat non-Refresh Altaria 1 on 1.


All of these changes are optional. I think your team is good and this was a difficult review because of that. Not to mention the fact that I have a very similar team to yours that I made a while ago with a different theme, but similar mons'. So I did not want to be biased and change the theme of your team. The changes I made are not very different from your original team (I only changed Tangrowth and Clefable) but I still think the changes should help your team do better on the ladder.

TL:DR

Magic Guard Clefable ----->

Unaware Clefable

Tangrowth ----->

Hippowdon

Offensive Heatran to (potentially) ----->

Choice Scarf Heatran

Importable

Gallade-Mega (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Heal Bell
- Calm Mind / Protect
- Moonlight / Wish

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

Slowking @ Assault Vest Latias can be used for Defog instead if needed.
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpA / 136 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Power Gem

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 28 HP / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
- Flash Cannon