ORAS OU Chesnaught Sables Half-Stall Half HO

[hidood5th]

So want some general thoughts on this team here, Its a team I've been doing actually really well with so far.

Pyrrhon (Volcarona) (M) @ Wide Lens
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

Yep, Wide Lens just to hit the Fire Blasts. Honestly, I couldn't think of may items that would benefit Volcarona specifically, Its kinda like what Archeops is now where since they took out gems, nobody knows what to do with him. So I just decided "Hey, I don't really like 85% accuracy, how do I amp that up?" Wide Lens. Probably dumb. Don't care, need more Fire Blasts to hit.

I think NAUGHT (Chesnaught) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Taunt
- Spiky Shield
- Leech Seed

Oh dear Arceus looky what we have here. This pokemon has straight up stalled though whole halves of teams just through how bulky it is. Because he has both Drain Punch and Leech Seed, leftovers isn't really necessary, so I just decided to make him even more annoying for physical attackers. I've also decided to forego Spikes for access to Taunt, shutting down Set-up sweepers and turning this into straight up Ferro-Denial.

The Fiery Joker (Darmanitan) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Earthquake

One powerful scarfer coming right up. Darmanitan is so powerful it can 2HKO non-defensive Rotom-W with Flare Blitz, and deal repectable damage to all other variants. His job is basically to revenge kill things with any one of his moves. U-Turn is the most common thing here, with its ability to safely KO weakened opponents and deal a great amount of damage to common Dark and Psychic types.

Shopkeeper (Sableye) (M) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Foul Play
- Taunt

Gen V Sables with a twist, stay in normal form until the bulk is needed and Magic Bounce becomes useful, pop the Mega Stone and watch as it doesn't die. Also set-up counter and general crippler for the team. Will o' Wisp means I can invest more in Special bulk to eat more hits from Offensive spinners like MegaBlast and Starmie.

Letz Shake (Gigalith) @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

While Rhyperior would usually work better with Chesnaught, Custap Gigalith with Explosion can be just too good to pass up. Lead this guy against most offensive pokemon and you basically guarantee Stealth Rock, a kill, or both. HP bulk is still prefered to increase his survivability for tanking resisted hits. Earthquake hits Steel-Types that resist Stone Edge and Sposions. This one has gotten many a clutches for my team, don't underestimate the Rock-type Metagross.

UFOwned (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Oh hai look more Ferro killers. In case you haven't noticed, I really, REALLY hate Ferrothorn. Honestly, I haven't even used this guy yet, I've literally done so well with the Chesnaught, Sables, Giga core that I've gone through teams with just them and also Darmanitan. So.....suggestions on replacements for the living Neodynium UFO?

 

[Gimmick]

Hey there!

(images help raters see the big picture (ha punny), try them out!)

So first glance at the team: interesting. I really like the synergy that comes with Chesnaught / M-Sableye / Volcarona, but I think that the support could be improved a bit. First of all, you talk about hating Ferrothorn, but 5/6 of this team is actually either a check or counter to it. Because of this, I think the slow Taunts on Chesnaught and M-Sableye could be replaced with more synergetic (not even a word but it should be) moves. But first, I'd like to talk about the goal of this team. When I first saw it, I instantly thought *hazard stacking Volcarona balance* but then I was disappointed to see Chesnaught without Spikes. Volcarona seriously appreciates Spike support to slowly wear down its checks and counters so that it can easily sweep mid-late game. For this reason, I strongly suggest replacing Taunt with Spikes on Chesnaught. Also, since Chesnaught is your blanket switch into physical attackers, I advocate for a switch from Rocky Helmet to Leftovers. Leftovers also increases the utility of Spiky Shield, which is otherwise very unrewarding if opponents expect it and you don't have any form of passive recovery. Next, M-Sableye really appreciates Knock Off on this team since it's a blanket SDef check so Foul Play won't be doing a lot to the things it actually switches into. This may be a personal thing, but I really dislike slow Taunts, especially on M-Sableye since it already bounces back status and hazards. The only thing Taunt would be useful for is preventing set-up, but M-Sableye is too slow to do that and appreciates being mega evolved more than saving its Prankster. So it follows that I recommend replacing Taunt with Knock Off on M-Sableye. This also helps with your terrible Gengar problem since Foul Play never OHKOs while Knock Off always OHKOs even with 0 Atk EVs.

As stated, Gengar is a huge issue for this team, but it falls under a more broad category that seems to be an issue - strong special attackers. Timid Manaphy can outright 6-0 this entire team because the only thing that can outspeed it is Darmanitan whose only option is a non-STAB Jolly attack. I suggest replacing Magnezone with an Assault Vest Raikou which not only switches into Gengar and Manaphy pretty well, it also has the ability to OHKO both of them after SR and Spikes:

252 SpA Raikou Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 204-240 (78.7 - 92.6%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
*OHKOs after LO and SR
252 SpA Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Manaphy: 270-320 (74.7 - 88.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

Raikou also helps tremendously with Thundurus-I (which also plows through the team with HP Ice/Flying and Focus Blast and paralyzes Darmanitan). Plus, Magnezone's niche doesn't even help this team at all.

Raikou Set

@ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 212 SpA / 56 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

EVs outspeed Serperior and maintain the ability to OHKO Manaphy after SR and Spikes >80% of the time. Rest into bulk to dodge the 2HKO from LO Gengar after SR

And finally, the team as it stands struggles to deal with Heatran - both taking it out and switching into it. Not to mention, it completely stops Darmanitan from spamming its powerful af Flare Blitzes and Volcarona from sweeping. The easiest out to Heatran that has wonderful synergy with this team is Dugtrio. Since Gigalith isn't exactly the most effective mon in OU and does nothing but set up Rocks and die, try replacing it with a Sash Dugtrio which has the same role except provides a ton more utility for the team. Many balanced teams are forced into SDef Heatran to deal with Raikou, so you can nab a Volt Switch into Dugtrio and take it out after popping a potential balloon. Darmanitan is also a Heatran lure, so U-turning out into Dugtrio is also a really cool option. Here's set that works well with your team:

Dugtrio Set

@ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 21 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Reversal
- Memento

IVs put you down to 1 HP after 2 Seismic Tosses from Chansey. Memento is great for giving Volcarona free Quiver Dances.

So with the weaknesses as patched up as they can get without replacing half the team (sorry about that - I usually don't suggest replacing 2 Pokemon but these just have much better synergy), I'd like to suggest one last thing: Volcarona's item. While Wide Lens increases Fire Blast's accuracy to 93.5%, you'll still miss sometimes and wish you had a more effective item. If you really don't want to miss, I strongly suggest changing your item to Life Orb and using Flamethrower (I'd even suggest Life Orb Fire Blast to take out weakened resists like Dragonite). Fun fact: Life Orb Flamethrower is stronger than Wide Lens Fire Blast:

252+ SpA Life Orb Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 273-321 (105.4 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 256-303 (98.8 - 116.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Even Charcoal Flamethrower (if you don't like LO damage) does just as much as a normal Fire Blast:

252+ SpA Charcoal Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 252-297 (97.2 - 114.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

So yeah, Wide Lens isn't exactly the best choice. In my opinion, the best item for Volcarona on this specific team is Lum Berry so that you can set up on things like Clefable and Ferrothorn without worrying about a random T-Wave. It also prevents Prankster Thundurus from ruining your sweep. Since this team is more or less built around a Volcarona sweep, it's important to make sure that the sweep actually goes through or you'll lose your win condition. If you use Lum Berry, you need the extra power, so go with Fire Blast. And lastly, the EV spread could be improved a bit. I'd like to keep Modest since you're not using Life Orb, but that means you don't outspeed Scarf Landorus-T (which is fine since you have Chesnaught). In that case, a more efficient EV spread would be 56 HP / 252 SpA+ / 200 Spe which outspeeds up to M-Lop and Jolly Mega Beedrill at +1 (which actually troubles this team a bit. luckily it's uncommon) and Adamant Sand Rush Excadrill at +2.

And that's it! I really like the idea of Darmanitan + Volcarona weakening each others checks. Scarf Darm is outclassed by many Pokemon as a whole, but its role of weakening Volc's checks here is really nice. Good job!

 

[hidood5th]

Hey there!

(images help raters see the big picture (ha punny), try them out!)

So first glance at the team: interesting. I really like the synergy that comes with Chesnaught / M-Sableye / Volcarona, but I think that the support could be improved a bit. First of all, you talk about hating Ferrothorn, but 5/6 of this team is actually either a check or counter to it. Because of this, I think the slow Taunts on Chesnaught and M-Sableye could be replaced with more synergetic (not even a word but it should be) moves. But first, I'd like to talk about the goal of this team. When I first saw it, I instantly thought *hazard stacking Volcarona balance* but then I was disappointed to see Chesnaught without Spikes. Volcarona seriously appreciates Spike support to slowly wear down its checks and counters so that it can easily sweep mid-late game. For this reason, I strongly suggest replacing Taunt with Spikes on Chesnaught. Also, since Chesnaught is your blanket switch into physical attackers, I advocate for a switch from Rocky Helmet to Leftovers. Leftovers also increases the utility of Spiky Shield, which is otherwise very unrewarding if opponents expect it and you don't have any form of passive recovery. Next, M-Sableye really appreciates Knock Off on this team since it's a blanket SDef check so Foul Play won't be doing a lot to the things it actually switches into. This may be a personal thing, but I really dislike slow Taunts, especially on M-Sableye since it already bounces back status and hazards. The only thing Taunt would be useful for is preventing set-up, but M-Sableye is too slow to do that and appreciates being mega evolved more than saving its Prankster. So it follows that I recommend replacing Taunt with Knock Off on M-Sableye. This also helps with your terrible Gengar problem since Foul Play never OHKOs while Knock Off always OHKOs even with 0 Atk EVs.

As stated, Gengar is a huge issue for this team, but it falls under a more broad category that seems to be an issue - strong special attackers. Timid Manaphy can outright 6-0 this entire team because the only thing that can outspeed it is Darmanitan whose only option is a non-STAB Jolly attack. I suggest replacing Magnezone with an Assault Vest Raikou which not only switches into Gengar and Manaphy pretty well, it also has the ability to OHKO both of them after SR and Spikes:

252 SpA Raikou Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 204-240 (78.7 - 92.6%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
*OHKOs after LO and SR
252 SpA Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Manaphy: 270-320 (74.7 - 88.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

Raikou also helps tremendously with Thundurus-I (which also plows through the team with HP Ice/Flying and Focus Blast and paralyzes Darmanitan). Plus, Magnezone's niche doesn't even help this team at all.

Raikou Set

@ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 212 SpA / 56 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

EVs outspeed Serperior and maintain the ability to OHKO Manaphy after SR and Spikes >80% of the time. Rest into bulk to dodge the 2HKO from LO Gengar after SR

And finally, the team as it stands struggles to deal with Heatran - both taking it out and switching into it. Not to mention, it completely stops Darmanitan from spamming its powerful af Flare Blitzes and Volcarona from sweeping. The easiest out to Heatran that has wonderful synergy with this team is Dugtrio. Since Gigalith isn't exactly the most effective mon in OU and does nothing but set up Rocks and die, try replacing it with a Sash Dugtrio which has the same role except provides a ton more utility for the team. Many balanced teams are forced into SDef Heatran to deal with Raikou, so you can nab a Volt Switch into Dugtrio and take it out after popping a potential balloon. Darmanitan is also a Heatran lure, so U-turning out into Dugtrio is also a really cool option. Here's set that works well with your team:

Dugtrio Set

@ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 21 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Reversal
- Memento

IVs put you down to 1 HP after 2 Seismic Tosses from Chansey. Memento is great for giving Volcarona free Quiver Dances.

So with the weaknesses as patched up as they can get without replacing half the team (sorry about that - I usually don't suggest replacing 2 Pokemon but these just have much better synergy), I'd like to suggest one last thing: Volcarona's item. While Wide Lens increases Fire Blast's accuracy to 93.5%, you'll still miss sometimes and wish you had a more effective item. If you really don't want to miss, I strongly suggest changing your item to Life Orb and using Flamethrower (I'd even suggest Life Orb Fire Blast to take out weakened resists like Dragonite). Fun fact: Life Orb Flamethrower is stronger than Wide Lens Fire Blast:

252+ SpA Life Orb Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 273-321 (105.4 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 256-303 (98.8 - 116.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Even Charcoal Flamethrower (if you don't like LO damage) does just as much as a normal Fire Blast:

252+ SpA Charcoal Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gengar: 252-297 (97.2 - 114.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

So yeah, Wide Lens isn't exactly the best choice. In my opinion, the best item for Volcarona on this specific team is Lum Berry so that you can set up on things like Clefable and Ferrothorn without worrying about a random T-Wave. It also prevents Prankster Thundurus from ruining your sweep. Since this team is more or less built around a Volcarona sweep, it's important to make sure that the sweep actually goes through or you'll lose your win condition. If you use Lum Berry, you need the extra power, so go with Fire Blast. And lastly, the EV spread could be improved a bit. I'd like to keep Modest since you're not using Life Orb, but that means you don't outspeed Scarf Landorus-T (which is fine since you have Chesnaught). In that case, a more efficient EV spread would be 56 HP / 252 SpA+ / 200 Spe which outspeeds up to M-Lop and Jolly Mega Beedrill at +1 (which actually troubles this team a bit. luckily it's uncommon) and Adamant Sand Rush Excadrill at +2.

And that's it! I really like the idea of Darmanitan + Volcarona weakening each others checks. Scarf Darm is outclassed by many Pokemon as a whole, but its role of weakening Volc's checks here is really nice. Good job!

About Gigalith, I mainly have him so I got something to eat Talonflame hits, since most of this team doesn't like Talonflame all that much. Plus, its bulk and Custap berry makes it a bit easier for Rock setup. Decided to switch Magnezone with Thundurus-T with Specs because it kinda still fits the role of a Special Wallbreaker i want, but it's speed makes it a bit more reliable.

Yung Venuz (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic

The first 3 moves are a given, and Specs are used to maximize Thudur-T's power and ability to wear down with Volt Switch. I've deciced to use Psychic in the last slot as a neat option for better killing Mega Venusaur switches, who is otherwise a big problem for Chesnaught and Sables.

And about Mega Lopunny being a counter, the reason I used Rocky Helmet is specifically for switching into U-turners or other priority physical attackers and weakening them a bit more. Then I can leech seed anything that comes in, Spiky Shield an attack, and recover any HP Chesnaught may have lost. I am going to swap Taunt with Spikes though, could provide more synergy with Mega Sables, who also has Knock Off like you suggested.

For minor things, Swapped Adamant with Brave and 0 speed IVs on Gigalith to minimize Gyro Ball damage from Ferro, but also mainly so if the time comes, Gigaltih can abuse enemy Trick Room.