Celetran and Friends: XY Edition

[michaeloche]

Importable

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Recover

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Roar

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Draining Kiss

One of the more potent defensive cores in generations past, Celetran, comes to XY a bit battered but not broken. With the Steel nerf, Heatran can no longer come in on Dark or Ghost type attacks with impunity, but with some support, the core remains.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

The lava slug is poised to leave its mark in OU once again. I have opted for an offensive Air Balloon set. Fire Blast still hurts despite the power drop, leaving dents in anything that doesn't resist it. Earth Power and HP Ice have been common on offensive Heatran in the past, and they remain that way. Even though HP got nerfed as well, it still covers Dragons easily, doing about 84-98% to Garchomp, for example. Ancient Power is an odd but effective choice, hitting Rotom-W switch ins and allowing it to actually kill Talonflame instead of just walling it. (And in case you were wondering, no, sadly, I have not gotten the hax from it yet.)

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Recover

Complementing Heatran nicely is Celebi. A specially defensive set is well suited for OU's resident forest pixie. Giga Drain and Recover make it hard to kill with power alone, and Natural Cure circumvents status. Psychic gives some coverage and can surprise players who switch out their Rotom-W, provided the switch in isn't Dark type. Stealth Rock allows Celebi's teammates to get easier O- or 2HKO's.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Roar

One of the things Heatran and Celebi struggle with is their ability to take physical hits. Enter Gyarados. If you read the "Silly Things You've Seen on the OU Ladder" thread, you may have noticed me giving this set some flak. Well, that was before I tried it. Lesson learned: don't judge a book by its cover. Gyarados makes a great counter to EQ users or Talonflame, should I wish to preserve Heatran's balloon. RestTalk and Intimidate allow Gyarados to overcome its SR weakness. Waterfall is the most consistent attack it gets, and Roar allows it a way to check threats such as Aegislash, Lucario, and Kangaskhan.

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn

The paleo bug is back in OU (for now) with a vengeance. This is probably the best set it can run, and with good reason. Thanks to its scarf, Genesect is a great scout and revenge killer. Of course, let's not forget its power, which is more than enough to get some sweeps of its own, especially with Download. It can also weaken stuff it can't kill, making a sweep easier.

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake

On the topic of sweeping, here's what does it the most. Even without the PuP boost, Parental Bond makes Mega Kangaskhan so dangerous. No Sash or Substitute user is safe from taking two hits like this, able to destroy nearly anything that doesn't resist the move she has chosen. She's also one of the few things that can reliably beat Mega Gengar, although not with complete impunity.

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Draining Kiss

Finally is the newest member of the Eevee family, Sylveon. Due to its EV spread, it can take physical and special hits fairly evenly. Sylveon's main job on this team is as a cleric, utilizing Heal Bell and Wish quite nicely. Draining Kiss isn't that strong, but it gives some solid healing in case Sylveon gets taunted and can overcome choiced opponents in the lategame, especially if they're weak to it.

Potential Issues

Hazards: Thanks to healing, most hazards aren't terribly difficult to deal with. Sticky Web, however, can be a pain for Kangaskhan and, to an extent, Genesect, but their power (and Sucker Punch in Kanga's case) can often overcome it.

VoltTurn: For some reason, I've seen a lot of this while laddering (I'm at 2016 as of the OP), especially with Rotom-W. But with prediction and help from SR, I have beaten most of the VoltTurn teams I've seen, although not exactly quickly.

Aegislash: I just need to stop it from boosting too much, as its power can go crazy quick. I really can't counter it very well, but I can check it.

Greninja: Due to its versatility, it depends on what I have out. Celebi and Heatran cover each other fairly well, as always. Gyarados can come in on a Water attack, Sylveon can take Dark Pulse, and Genesect can take Ice Beam. Of course, prediction comes into play as well.

I've done well with this team, having gotten over 2000 ACRE, but I am still open to constructive criticism.

 

[Scotti]

Its a pretty solid team overall, but i just happen to have a few ideas that i think will make your team better.

Firstly, i want you to replace gyarados with lando-t. Looking over the things that give your team problem, i noticed Aegislash and i was like he needs Lando-T. I recommend using a pivot set, so you can have some defensive backbone and gain access to rocks and momentum from U-Turn. That is pretty all i can say in that category. It also helps a little against volt-turn.

With lando-t you don't have to run rocks on celebi, so you can run baton pass to escape pursuit, or anything you want in general.

Next, I want you to run Azumarill over Sylevon. I actually wanted to put a spinner or a defogger, however you would still be weak to greninja. I picked Azumarill because fairies naturally do well against it and azumarill resist pretty much 99% of the moves greninja run unless they run grass knot. Azumarill also adds a FWG core with Gyarados gone, and its just a good pokemon overall. I recommend using the choice band set over the belly drum set, but thats from my own testing.

From my own experience i find Crunch over Sucker Punch and Fire Punch over Earthquake on khan to be better. Fire Punch lets you beat steel types alot better than earthquake, and crunch lets you beat sub disable gar, or any ghost type.

Pokemon Set

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spd
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]



Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 168 HP / 4 SDef / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Superpower
- Play Rough

I hope my suggestion helped :3

 

[michaeloche]

Okay, I ran the team with the mon changes, changed SR to Heal Bell on Celebi, and left Kanga the same. I must admit that I am not impressed with the changes you suggested. They're not bad, but something just doesn't seem right.

On another note, I did see an Aegislash the other day. Lando-T didn't really help there, although it was probably because it was a mixed one. It turns out Genesect ended up killing it (+1 Flamethrower cleanly 2HKO's shield form and obliterates blade form).

 

[Knight of Cydonia]

Ok, this team has pretty good defensive synergy just now and utilizes two top offensive threats in Kanga and Genesect. However I can see most volt-turn teams giving you quite a lot of trouble. Despite Heatran walling Genesect and Celebi man handling Rotom-w, this isn't that useful when they can just u-turn / voltswitch out to each other with no real way to stop them. This is worsened by the fact that Gyarados also hates Rotom-w and neither of your offensive pokemon want to switch into a burn or hydro pump from Rotom. Sylveon can handle this sort of play but a lot of Genesect have Iron Head which is going to ko sylveon.

Now an easy way to help fix this would be to run Rocky Helmet on Heatran. Now every time Genesect goes for the "free U-turn" it takes 1/6 damage - combine this with the reasonably likely Stealth Rock and it will have very limited time to do any work on your team. It also has its uses against stuff like Talonflame, Aegislash and Mega Kanga. Losing Air Balloon isn't really a problem since you have Gyarados' immunity and Celebi's strong resist.

You may think I am over valuing it but you could also try Rocky helmet on Gyarados. Again this helps against U-turn users like Genesect and Scizor. The main reason to use this though is for opposing Mega Kangas which are very threatening to this team (what team isn't scared by it). This way if it power up punches as you switch in and it then returns, you still have a reasonable chance to survive and even if you don't due to stealth rock say, you have still done 2/3 damage to it just by switching in. Really it's just one of the best items now with all the physical threats and you would definitely notice its effectiveness if you put it on one of these two.

Now Sylveon is ok just now but it seems to be doing the least work for your team (basically walling greninja and latios which your FWG core can't). What you seem to want here is some form of hazard control so your walls aren't weakened and overrun / your offense slowed down by sticky web. Just now you have no way to prevent or remove hazards so maybe Defog Togekiss could do well here. Although it is Rock weak itself it has the bulk and recovery to remove hazards multiple times. You keep the fairy typing your team values and can even run Heal Bell on it if that is something you consider necessary.

Definitely keep Sucker Punch and Earthquake on Kangaskhan, Sucker Punch is what makes it so dangerous in the first place and EQ helps a lot with Aegislash who is otherwise dropping your attack. I prefer Iron Head over Thunderbolt on Genesect to hit the fairies that other wise wall you and potentially get flinch hax against stuff you can't get the kill on otherwise. Finally you say Ancient Power can hit rotom -w, but it does nothing to it and fire blast is stronger after stab anyway. It's definitely viable though just for bulk up taunt talonflame.

Togekiss Set

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Defog
- Roost / Wish
- Heal Bell / Protect

Have fun with the team.

 

[michaeloche]

I like your suggestions. I switched Sylveon for Togekiss and put the helmet on Gyarados. RH has really come in handy against Megakhan in particular, as you mentioned. Also have this replay as proof.