Charizard X in VGC

[I Am Doz]

Right I haven't posted much on here for some time, only becoming active again in recent days. And I'm sure not one person noticed!! Anyway as some of you will be aware there is a series of VGC style events happening in the UK and I am aiming to attend one of those, the problem being I am woefully inexperienced at the style of play. I have played around with a few things I like and am getting fairly mixed results, so I am here to get my team rated and to see if anyone can identify any glaring weaknesses and any ways to improve the synergy of the team. Anyway Introduction out of the way, now onto the team!

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Jolly Nature
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Blaze(Tough Claws)
-Flare Blitz
-Dragon Claw
-Rock Slide
-Protect/Earthquake

Charizard was the first Pokemon I had inn mind when I was making the team, since it has had it's meteoric rise thanks to it's mega evolutions. I am not too fond of the Y version, and through a little research and I found it to be the most commmon. With that in mind I went for Charizard X. Many people who see it on team preview automatically assume Y which gives me a great oppurtunity to utilize the surprise factor, and it's frankly (in my opinion) perfect movepool for its job.

Onto it's role in the team. Charizard is the main attacking presence, with tough claws boosting it's STAB attacks, and with max EV's It punches hokes through pretty much anything. Rock Slide provides good coverage, hitting the common Talonflame,YZard, Salamence, Noivern etc. for high damage. The last slot is currently Protect for the ultimate scouting move, and to give me an oppurtuniy to stay healthy before I mega evolve. Earthquake is a damaging alternative, forming the famed EdgeQuake combo. Max speed EV's for maximum speed as standard for offensive Pokemon, and enables a speed tie with opposing base 100's. I usually leave Charizard til after one of my leads is down, or Noivern has successfully set up Tailwind.

Hariyama @ Coba Berry/Leftovers
Thick Fat
Relaxed/Brave Nature
252 HP/80 Atk/176 Def
0 Spe IV
-Fake Out
-Helping Hand/Brick Break
-Wide Guard
-Rock Slide

After selecting Charizard I found myself looking through the Kalos Dex to see what I could actually use. Hariyama jumped out to me, looking at it's stats, movepool and abilities, I found that I was a really useful supportive Pokemon. Despite being weak to Brave Bird, I found that Hariyama can deal with Talonflame really easily, which made it an instant consideration for the team. Also with Thick Fat it gains pseudo resistances to Fire and Ice attacks, letting it sponge some attacks from Tyranitar's, Charizards, and a few other common mon's.

Hariyama is used as a lead. It doesn't really function too well outside of that role, but it has been one of my more consistant Pokemon, Fake Out breaking sashes, and stopping set ups quite nicely. Depending on what I am facing dictates how cautiously I will play after that. Generally if I am facing a Talonflame, I click Rockslide, laugh as the Coba berry kicks in letting me nicely tank a brave bird, and hopefully KO with my resulting attack. Helping Hand is a really useful addition too, with it adding a little extra power that has often helped the partner Pokemon net a KO. Wide Guard is used over protect because of the prevalence of Rock Slide, Heat Wave, Earthquake. Rock Slide, is as mentioned, to kill Talonflame, and also any other Flying types that may appear. The EV's are a mix of bulk with some boost in Atk. The nature and 0 speed IV is to counter the possible threat of Trick Room.

Noivern Focus sash
Frisk
Timid Nature
252 Sp Atk/252 Spe/4 Def
-Draco Meteor
-Flamethrower
-Taunt
-Tailwind

Next on the team is Noivern. This was very much a case of wanting to use a favourite Pokemon at first. However as I was looking at possible sets to use on it, it occured to me to be a very viable option, with it's higher base speed than Garchomp and Salamence, having access to Tailwind and Taunt, and it is basically unaffected by the large amounts of Intimidaters I have encountered.

Noivern is usually my other lead, though on occasion it has been used in one of the last 2 slots, to take advantage of a surprise Tailwind, or Draco Meteor. The main function is to shut down more supportive Pokemon, such as Trick Room leads, Smeargle etc. To this end Taunt is one of it's key attacks. Tailwind is great team support, allowing Charizard to outspeed certain counter's like Garchomp and be able to KO them this is also to help against any scarfers that are out there. The final 2 moves are the standard, Draco Meteor for STAB and power, even more so with a Helping Hand boost and Flamethrower for almost any resist to Dragon in VGC (I think Azumarril is the exception) It's EV's are standard for a Noivern, to maximise speed and power of it's 2 attacking moves. The Focus Sash allows me to nearly always get a Taunt or Tailwind up, unless the opponent only targets Noivern, usually unlikely with Hariyama flinching one lead. The only issue I really have with this is that I really want to fit Protect in, however I can't see an attack I can afford to drop.

Aegislash @ Life Orb
Stance Change
Brave/Quiet Nature
252 HP/252 Atk/4 Sp Atk
-Iron Head
-Sacred Sword
-Shadow Ball
-King's Shield

At this point I started to have a clear picture of what my team was going to. With Noivern and Charizard X needing a Fairy counter and Dragon resist, Hariyama needing a Flying resist (once Coba Berry is used up) I started to think of Steel Types in Kalos. And to me there is only one answer, which was Aegislash (was tempted by eviolite Doublade but decided against it) It as colossal defenses in it's Defense Stance, and the same for the attacking stats in the Attack Stance. It's ability to swap between the forms at will is also a nice touch!

In term's of the team, Aegislash is used for it's synergy with other teammates, and it's pure power. Running a mixed variant seemed vital to me, as there is a lot of intimidate flying about, and burn's from Scald's or Will-O-Wisps. Because of this, I decided to forgo the usual Shadow Sneak, to go for Shadow Ball as my special attack, and first STAB, it hit's hard enough with only the 4 ev's and Quiet nature, due to the base 150! attacking stats. On the physical side it has Iron Head as the physical STAB, and answer to most Fairies, and a flinch chance, which is rarely usable. Sacred Sword rounds out the near perfect coverage, hitting Steels for super effective damage and ignoring any stat changes on the target. Finally King's shield is used over Protect for the halving attack capability, and beyond the odd burn, the lack of status protection doesn't really hurt it. As with Hariyama the Nature and 0 speed IV are to help against Trick Room

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Sand Stream
Rash Nature
252HP/252 Sp Atk/4 Atk
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Fire Blast
-Rock Slide

After the 4 Pokemon above were chosen, I sort of rushed the last 2 spot's seen as I already knew how I wanted to line up in most battles. This lead me to trying to fit a couple of niches into my team, as I have stated earlier, I am not familiar with the VGC game, and to be honest couldn't make a good decision on what else my team needed. I decided to have a look at some of the top ranking Pokemon, and saw that Garchomp, Kangaskahn, Talonflame were the top 3. Another of the top 10 handles most of those quite well, that Pokemon being Tyranitar. It has a fantastic movepool, and many viable set's along with flexability in terms of item choice and functionality. And such I decided my fifth member would be him.

Tyranitar functions as a specially based Tank, also utilising Rock Slide for the same purpose as some of the other members, also getting STAB and a reasonable damage output off of it's naturally high attack. Like most Tyranitar at the moment though, the primary attacks I use a Special, this is because the game at the moment seems to very Physical, with Intimidate being common, and Physical walls being common as a result of a lot of Physical attackers. Some of these, such as Garchomp and Salamence have a 4x weakness to one of the better attacks out there, Ice Beam. As such that is the most often used attack, followed by Fire Blast against the fairly common Amoongus, Ferrathorn. It also gives me the option of Super effective hit's on Steels, Ice and Bug which is rather nice for the team. Dark Pulse offers a STAB option and hit's Aegislash for super effective damage, in a more reliable fashion than Fire Blast.

Meowstic Male @ Light Clay
Prankster
Timid Nature
252 HP/252 Spe/4 Sp Atk
-Psychic
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Safeguard

Meowstic was chosen for the last slot as an alternative to Klefki, who I am really not a fan of. With it being a psychic type I found many support moves to assist the team, the main ones being the screens and Safeguard. What made this even better, and the reason it is my option instead of Klefki, is the fact Meowstic Male also has Prankster.

Meowstic acts as a general dual screener, thanks to Prankster allowing me more often than not to set up both screen's very early on in the game. Whilst not used as often as Hariyama and Noivern, it works very nicely as my lead. The other function is to serve as a sort of Cleric, focusing on preventing Status through Safeguard, which again is brilliant with Prankster. The final move on the set is Psychic, STAB and stops it being Taunt bait.

And that brings close to the team, I am looking forward to any help that can be provided in improving the team, and helping my understand the VGC metagame a lot more.

 

[I Am Doz]

*1 day bump*

 

[ankyfdarkness]

I'd say it's a good start.

In general I understand where most of your sets are going, but I think you could push more out of your team slots. You also lack any solid checks to Mega Kanga, who given the chance will roll through this team with ease.

Charizard X really is a fun poke to use. The very existence of Charizard Y makes X's life a little easier as the opponent can't really guess with 100% accuracy. To better capitalize on this, try shifting to a defensive nature and ev spread with WoW and Roost to better punish the opponent's Char Y checks and counters. Going max speed in VGC is a little loose, particularly for a base 100. Chomp and Noivern outspeed you and other Dragons like Mence tie, so you're not really gaining much from investing there unless you go balls deep and try DD'ing, which isn't something you want to be doing. In addition, a defensive set will still maintain Char X's power, but also gives another angle to attack from, which is helpful.

To better compensate for Charizard's lack of nature speed, it helps to have a thunder waver. This could be done by Meowstic with ease. Also, drop those speed evs and invest in physical or special bulk to better take the plethora of fake outs and priority that runs around. With prankster you literally gain nothing by wasting evs in speed. I'm also not a huge fan of light screen, but that's just me. Quick Guard seems more useful in more situations.

I'd run:
Light Clay
Calm Nature
252 HP / 252 S. Def / 4 Def
Thunder Wave
Reflect
Quick Guard / Light Screen
Psychic

T-Tar and 'Slash look pretty good as is. I always like T-Tar with other Megas just to keep my foe guessing a little longer.

Hariyama is a neat piece of tech, but I'm not sure if he'd rather just be Conkeldurr to better represent offensive pressure. Drain/Mach Punch is a good combination in VGC, and Hariyama doesn't seem to do much on it's own. Conk also punishes Kanga a little better, particularly if its been burned by Charizard before hand.

Noivern probably wants to be Life Orb Talonflame. The birdie does the same thing, acting as a cleaner, just better and with priority Tailwind and a 120 BP move.

Just my thoughts. Again, team looks pretty good.

 

[I Am Doz]

Thank you for the reply, your thoughts certainly give me somethings to consider, and I will address a couple now.

In regards to noivern I see what you are saying, however they do function differently, Noivern acts as a scout so to speak, revealing the held item to help determine the set, Taunt disrupts and as a special attacker, there is less to wall it due to the overly physical nature of the current meta. Also I feel that Talonflame, whilst very good, doesn't fit my style, and with its typing, is inferior to noivern in that respect.

Conkelder over hariyama is a good consideration, it is certainly worth testing, even if I miss the utility that my hariyama brings.

Finally in regards to charizard, what sort of spread and moverset would you recommend for a more defensive version and how would it add to my team in comparison to my current build?

Thanks again for the rate

 

[ankyfdarkness]

Maybe try the spread Adamant 252 HP / 184 Atk / 68 Def with the moves WoW, Roost/Protect, Flare Blitz, Dragon Claw/Protect.

The given Evs make it impossible for Jolly Kanga to 1HKO you with Return after a Fake Out and allows you to hit it with WoW and Roost off the damage. Adamant 252 Atk T-Tar only has a 30% chance to KO as another comparison. Additionally, opposing 252 Atk. / 252 Spd. Char Xs only have an 18.8% chance to KO you, while you have a 100% chance to KO them back. The Evs also allow you to take random priority moves much better. Running a screener like Meowstic makes this set even better.

It helps your team be acting as a bulky check/counter to Rotom, Amoongus, some Venesuar, Aegislash, and others. In VGC survivability is often better than raw sweeping.

Anyways, just some thoughts. Try it out and see how it works.

 

[I Am Doz]

I'm currently testing out your suggestions, I am finding this build for Charizard X to be fantastic, if suffering a little from FMSS, I need to fit Dragon Claw on for opposing Charizard X, however I find that Roost and Protect are 100% necessary and Flare Blitz is just too powerful to let go of. Will-O-Wisp provides excellent status for me.

Conkelder works pretty well too so far. As you mentioned Drain Punch and Mach Punch is pretty good in VGC, and by giving Conk a Coba berry it fills the same role as Hariyama to a degree, without the addition Fire resist Thick Fat gave it.

Meowstic however just seems to be missing something, despite it's utility I often find myself not selecting it, as it is far too frail to do it's job properly every time. With that in mind is there any better alternative for the job?

 

[ankyfdarkness]

Yeah, I noticed the same thing about FMSS when I played with Char X. That's why I have Protect slashed a couple times in my previous post. Protect seems the easiest move to let go of, but that seems more a trap than anything... Still I've tested well without it running the moves Roost / Blitz / Claw / WoW so all I can say is test some more to see what you like?

Conk or Hariyama might just be a preference more than anything. They both do different things in different circumstances. Glad he's working out for you.

I'm really not sure about Meowstic. As with most pranksters, there is a level of preference that goes into move choices. Other good dual screeners are scare in this VGC in my opinion. Maybe try a more toolbox approach with Meowstic and run a set like this.

- Fake Out
- Safeguard
- Charm
- Thunder Wave

You might get a little more millage out of him.

Hope this helps.

 

[I Am Doz]

I have came to realise that Light Screen is pretty redundant as the metagame stands. With further testing I just can't get Meowstic to be effective enough, so to me I see it as the weaker member of my team. Instead of a Dual Screener, what other type of Pokemon could improve my team, anything from a Cleric to a sweeper, as long as it doesn't affect the consistency I'm aiming for or the balance of the team.

Your suggestions have been really helpful so far, so thank you very much.

 

[ankyfdarkness]

You could always try specially defensive Amoongus. Rage Powder and Spore are great utility options and synergize well with T-Tar. Regenerator makes him a pain in the ass to take down too, adding some durability to your team overall.

 

[I Am Doz]

I tested Amoongus, while it put in some work, didnt really help the team too much. I have made a couple of changes myself that I am testing, for better or worse.
Trying out a fully special Aegislash, absorbing Will-O-Wisps, then surprising the opponent. I have dropped Tyranitar to test out Band Azumarrill, Conkeldurr is now holding the assault vest, and is using Poison Jab/Earthquake over Protect. Finally Noivern is replaced by Greninja, just havent decided weather Specs or Life Orb is the best item for it.

 

[I Am Doz]

with some of the changes made the team has managed to peak at 1422, 381st in the ladder, going to test it on a new alt soon to make sure the improved performance isn't a fluke. Once again thank you for the rate and ideas provided