Broken Steel (OU Balanced Offense Team)

[atrain23]

Broken Steel​

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Quick Glance

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Introduction

Let's jump ahead to the year 2077. In a world plagued by radiation and nuclear fallout, humans struggle to survive the unforgiving wastelands. Creatures once existent only in our imagination roam the planet. Fearsome three-headed dragons, sentient ancient weaponry, alien dogs, bladed moles, man-eating beetles, and... possessed washing machines? You never know what to expect in this bizarre future. But man has learned to tame the beasts of the wastes. Welcome to mankind's last stand: Broken Steel.

Hey everyone, welcome to my first Generation 6 OU RMT. As the thread title points out, I've created a balanced offense team that I wanted to share with you guys. I have battled competitively since RSE, and I have always leaned towards balanced teams. My goal with this thread is to showcase a team utilizing an offense-oriented Hydreigon-Aegislash-Sylveon core and hopefully receive some constructive feedback. This team is nowhere near perfect, but I have had great results with this team so far. Thank you for taking the time read this far into my RMT, and I hope some of you can even get some ideas from my team.

Team Building Logic

1. I originally started with the above core. Early on in XY's lifetime, there was a lot of hype for the Hydreigon-Aegislash core. These two flawlessly complement each other's weaknesses, while offering great offensive coverage. The two pokemon also share moderate bulk, making switch-ins easy. However, this core has its downfalls, and it is weak to status. To remedy this, I added Sylveon to the core. Sylveon has been a staple to nearly all of my XY OU teams as a cleric. Sylveon's typing also complements the core well.

2. Mega-Pinsir was added to the team as a late game sweeper, as Hydreigon and Aegislash tend to work best in the early/midgame. Mega-Pinsir's goal is to set up and sweep after the core creates a dent in the enemy's team.

3. The original core forces a lot of switches, so I figured that it was necessary for my team to utilize stealth rock. On the other hand, rapid spin support is needed to reduce chip damage taken by Hydreigon and Mega-Pinsir. Thus, Excadrill was added to the team, as he also provides strong steel and ground STABs for added coverage.

4. I usually stray away from Rotom-W, but this pokemon is the perfect fit for my team. Rotom-W deals with Pinsir's threats, has the ability to cripple opponents with Will-O-Wisp, creates a Volt-turn core with Hydreigon, and resists steel to complement Sylveon.

In Depth Analyses

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- U-turn/(Focus Blast?)

Hydreigon serves as the revenge killer of my team. Most pokemon don't want to be taking STAB Draco Meteors or Dark Pulses to the face. Fire Blast is on this set as my team lacks fire type attacks, and it is used to deal with deal with bulky steel types such as Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Scizor. U-turn allows Hydreigon to scout, and it synergizes well with Rotom-W's Volt Switch. I am considering Focus Blast over U-Turn for better coverage and to deal with Tyranitar, one of my team's bigger weaknesses.

Aegislash @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 240 HP / 12 Atk / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield

This Aegislash is a fairly standard wall breaker. Shadow Ball is an extremely powerful special nuke, and Shadow Sneak is often times enough to finish a pokemon off afterwards. Aegislash's bulk allows it to easily switch into Hydreigon's weaknesses. Not much is to be said this set, other than it works as the perfect partner to Hydreigon, forcing switches and dealing huge damage with Shadow Balls.

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 244 HP / 252 SDef / 12 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect

The heart of the team. Sylveon is an amazing cleric and special wall with its base 95 HP and 130 Sp.Def. Sylveon keeps the team healthy by passing on Wish and healing status with Heal Bell. Due to it's fairy-typing, Sylveon can stop dragon types from sweeping and follow up with surprisingly powerful base 110 Sp.A Hyper Voices. Oftentimes opponents are caught off-guard when they try to set up on Sylveon, only to take a good amount of damage from Hyper Voice.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Standard spinner and stealth rock set. Excadrill is oftentimes utilized as a lead if I want to quickly set up stealth rocks. Air Balloon helps Excadrill switch in to ground type attacks (usually Earthquakes aimed at Aegislash) and reduces chip damage dealt by spikes. This Excadrill is set up to be easily switched in to provide constant rapid spin and stealth rock support if necessary. Iron Head is used over Rock Slide because Rotom-W is usually sufficient enough for Talonflame.

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake/(Close Combat?)

The endgame of the team. Pinsir is definitely my favorite mega with its huge damage dealing capabilities thanks to Aerialate. Mega-Pinsir usually comes into play after its checks are eliminated by the rest of the team, or for a revenge kill. Hyper Cutter is used over Moxie to prevent switches into Intimidate, and Earthquake is for steel types that easily wall Pinsir. Like with Hydreigon, I am considering replacing Earthquake with a fighting type attack (Close Combat) to make up for the team's lack of fighting coverage.

Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest

Rotom-W serves as the defensive pivot of the team. Rotom-W frequently switches in and out of battle, crippling sweepers with Will-O-Wisp and healing itself with Rest. Counters to Aegislash, Sylveon, and Mega-Pinsir are covered by Rotom-W. These counters usually include Talonflame, Air Balloon Heatran, Skarmory, Landorus-T, Garchomp, etc. Rest works well with this set because Sylveon can cure Rotom-W's sleep status even if it has already eaten its berry. Volt Switch creates a Volt-turn core with Hydreigon and it can give Pinsir an easy switch in.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses that I've come across so far include Volcarona, Haxorus with Earthquake and Poison Jab, bulky Tyranitars, and sweepers with large, unpredictable move pools such as Gengar. The lack of Ice and Fighting type attacks contributes to these weaknesses.

Proposed Changes
(These changes will eventually be consolidated into the new team)

Final Notes

Thanks to all that have read my RMT. I know this team has lots of room for improvement and I am open to all suggestions.

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[Trevorpoke42]

Before I begin on my rate, I would like to tell you that you have done a very good job on making this RMT, and I can easily see the time you put into this so props for that. Now onto the rate! So with the threats you mentioned, one easy pokemon to pick out for your team would have to be Choice Scarf Terrakion, it is able to revenge kill Volcarona, a Weakened Haxorus, most set up sweepers and is able to OHKO Tyranitar. Sure it can't get passed tough physical walls such as Landorus-T and Gliscor, but we have special Aegislash which pairs nicely as an offensive duo with Terrakion. I suggest swapping out Hydreigon with Terrakion, as it fits in well with the offensive pressure of your team and is countering the threats that you have mentioned. That's all, hope I helped!

 

[Mike Legend]

Hey man props for using Hydreigon. It's still a strong mon this gen. Your team is going to have a lot of trouble breaking down more defensive teams. All of these types of teams have at least one, if not two, solid switch-ins to Pinsir, the only mon on your team with enough offense to do anything to those teams. Hydreigon can be used to help with this problem by running a wallbreaker set instead of a choice scarfed revenge killer. The wallbreaker set also takes advantage of the switching opportunities provided by the synergy with Aegislash that allow it to come in and throw around powerful Life Orb boosted attacks. Run a set of Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Superpower, and Roost with 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd with a Mild Nature. All the switch-in opportunities that your team creates for Hydreigon along with recovery and a cleric are going any full stall or defensive team a hard time with Hydreigon.

Running defense on Sylveon would help you with a lot of the threats you mentioned. Sylveon is able to wall most special attackers anyway with minimal investment, and you'll still have Aegislash as insurance against most. Max Defense investment with a Calm nature gives you enough defense to check those physical threats, while maximizing your stats gained. I also think Pinsir is contributing the least to your team, and could be replaced by a Choice Band Talonflame. Talonflame gives you a revenge killer that you lost with changing Hydreigon's set, and also gives you something to revenge Zard X (Volcarona who you also mentioned as well) who grabs a Dragon Dance against Rotom-w or by forcing something out. While Zard X is still hell for your team to face, the added physical bulk on Sylveon and the addition of Talonflame should help a lot. Just play very actively with Excadrill to get SR up as much as possible against Zard teams and you should be able to play around it. One more thing I'd like you to consider is Spooky Plate over Leftovers on Aegislash. You've got wish support from Sylveon, so the Leftovers recovery isn't as important as it normally is, and Aegislash becomes a much stronger attacker with the 1.2x boost to Shadow Ball. Solid team dude and good luck.

 

[atrain23]

Thank you both so much for the feedback and the suggestions! I will definitely test these ideas out and I will consolidate the changes into the thread later.

Trevorpoke42:
I'm really liking the Terrakion suggestion. I think if I were to replace Pinsir instead of Hydreigon, I wouldn't need to worry too much about the physical walls. Thanks for your kind words and Terrakion is looking like the perfect fit for my team!

Fried Rhys:

Run a set of Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Superpower, and Roost with 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd with a Mild Nature. All the switch-in opportunities that your team creates for Hydreigon along with recovery and a cleric are going any full stall or defensive team a hard time with Hydreigon.

I am definitely going to be running this set. I've realized that it would be better to run Hydreigon this way than as a revenge killer. This set gives it more versatility and builds Hydreigon as a bigger threat.

I will also test out the Sylveon suggestions you proposed, as it sounds like Max Defense investment will only make it easier for Sylveon to switch in and provide constant cleric support. Also, thanks for the heads up on Aegislash running Spooky Plate. That just seems like the superior choice.

At this point, I'm fairly set on replacing Pinsir for better offensive coverage. I will test out both Terrakion and Talonflame. My only concern is that replacing Pinsir leaves me without a setup sweeper. Though I figure that thanks to SR and Cleric support, the new team will be able to constantly deal tons of damage and not need a late game sweeper. Thanks again for the suggestions!