Double Mega! (Slowbro + Garchomp) | Para + Sub Setup Team
INTRO
Ever since minakamiyuki topped the OU ladder a while ago with a sick stall team featuring both Mega Sceptile and Mega Swampert I've been thinking of the advantages that having more than one Mega stone on a team confers: the ability to choose your Mega based on matchup or circumstance within a match can be incredibly useful and adds versatility to your team. The idea of having two Megas sat sort of dormant in my head until I stumbled across this team by doughboy featuring CM Mega Slowbro and TTar + Sand Veil Garchomp that I found really badass, and I figured I could retool the team to support both Mega Slowbro and Mega Garchomp (since doughboy runs the niche Yache Berry on his Garchomp anyways).
The game plan is to spread paralysis early game and proceed to set up and sweep with Substitute + boosting sweepers with the free turns from paralysis. In general, the enemy team will be weak to at least one of the 4 wincons: save this one for last and use the other 3 recklessly to keep momentum and weaken the checks for the final sweeper. The strategy has worked pretty well so far and I'm currently undefeated on ladder after about a dozen games. The team I ended up with shares 4 pokemon in common with doughboy's team, so please don't think I'm trying to pass this off as 100% my own innovation, but hopefully I could introduce some useful novelty to a team I admire.
EDIT: I had not seen doughboy's RMT until somebody brought it to my attention; I can now check how close doughboy's sets are to mine.
The game plan is to spread paralysis early game and proceed to set up and sweep with Substitute + boosting sweepers with the free turns from paralysis. In general, the enemy team will be weak to at least one of the 4 wincons: save this one for last and use the other 3 recklessly to keep momentum and weaken the checks for the final sweeper. The strategy has worked pretty well so far and I'm currently undefeated on ladder after about a dozen games. The team I ended up with shares 4 pokemon in common with doughboy's team, so please don't think I'm trying to pass this off as 100% my own innovation, but hopefully I could introduce some useful novelty to a team I admire.
EDIT: I had not seen doughboy's RMT until somebody brought it to my attention; I can now check how close doughboy's sets are to mine.
THE_TEAM
ANALYSIS
Slowbro @ Slowbronite | Regenerator
Bold Nature (+Def / -Atk) | 248 HP / 252 Def/ 8 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
• Thunder Wave
• Slack Off
• Calm Mind
• Scald
The first Mega on the team, Slowbro functions early game as a status-spreading pivot and can Mega evolve later on once the counters are gone. Regenerator + Slack Off makes Slowbro an incredible physical sponge, and STAB Scald makes it hard for the ground types immune to Thunder Wave to switch in. Thanks to Shell Armor, Mega Slowbro is immune to critical hits, so the opponent must keep a pokemon that can deal more than 50% to Slowbro alive at all times or Megabro will auto-win -- against mons that do less than half I can stall with Slack Off until they get lose a turn to para and heal to full health, allowing for effortless setup. Even in the case that I Mega Evolve Chomp, Slowbronite is not a useless item, rendering me immune to being Tricked a Choice item and nerfing Knock Off. Since paralysis is so important to my team, I was considering swapping Scald for Surf for the extra bit of power and to avoid unwanted burns.
Garchomp @ Garchompite | Sand Veil
Jolly Nature (+Spe / -SpA) | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
• Substitute
• Swords Dance
• Dragon Claw
• Earthquake
The team's other Mega, Sub SD Garchomp handles the status setters that give Slowbro pain. Some might call Sand Veil setup Chomp aids, but I think it's a pretty legitimate idea: under Sand, all attacks have Hydro Pump accuracy or worse, so it makes sense to fish for the miss, especially when facing a paralyzed opponent. Some math: a para'd opponent has a 0.75 x 0.8 = 60% chance to hit Garchomp with a 100% accurate move, and the odds of hitting Garchomp 4 times in a row in the sand with a non-paralyzed opponent is ~41% and ~13% for a paralyzed opponent. What this means is that Garchomp has good odds to reach +2 behind a sub, and when it does, if the sand is still up, Sand Force boosted Mega Garchomp hits like a nuke:
+2 252 Atk Sand Force Mega Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn in Sand: 348-411 (98.8 - 116.7%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock | Sand Stream
Careful (+SpD / -SpA) | 248 HP / 252 SpD/ 8 Spe
• Thunder Wave
• Stealth Rock
• Pursuit
• Stone Edge
This is a weird set that glues my team together pretty nicely. Sand Stream is of course obligatory to support Megachomp; Smooth Rock guarantees those extra turns of setup, and the extra turns of residual damage help the rest of my team a lot as well. Thunder Wave is an unexpected move on TTar and often helpful. For example, if I'm sacking TTar to bring a sweeper in, I can paralyze an opponent, then outspeed and set up rocks on the turn they take me out. I've been toying with various amounts of attack investment, but even uninvested, coming off 134 base attack Pursuit OHKOs the relevant mons to trap on the switch out anyway after rocks:
0 Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 270-318 (90.3 - 106.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
On the other hand, the SpDef investment helps me tank a ton of hits and either paralyze or hit back hard with Stone Edge. For example:
232+ SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 240-284 (59.5 - 70.4%)
With this kind of bulk, I've found that Tyranitar gets plenty of opportunities to come in and set up weather and hazards. (And yes, I've thought about ways to go triple Mega but I unfortunately don't think it's viable at all)
Bisharp @ Leftovers | Defiant
Adamant (+Atk / -SpA) | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
• Substitute
• Swords Dance
• Sucker Punch
• Iron Head
Up until this point, my team follows doughboy's team very closely, and here's where it begins to diverge. The canonical 3 Attacks + SD Bisharp is one of the most feared mons in OU, and rightfully so, but the prevalence of the standard set makes it so nobody is prepared for Bisharp to set up a Sub. Sacrificing Knock off is a huge deal, granted, but think about it: the factor that makes the usual Bisharp set so terrifying is the fact that the opposing pokemon essentially has to win a series of mindgames or get demolished. If they attack when Bisharp Suckers, they lose; if they recover while Bisharp SDs, they lose, and they always have to fear Bisharp's 252+ Atk STABs coming off base 130 attack. Now factor into that Bisharp can set up a Substitute (beating status setters) and it makes the prediction game very skewed in favor of the Sharp player. If Sand is up and Bisharp is behind a Substitute recovering with Lefties, there's a lot of pressure on the opponent to break the Sub. And as always on this team, a paralyzed opponent is a really screwed one, since losing a turn against Bisharp to hax can easily lose you the game, and now Bisharp outspeeds with Iron Head.
Serperior @ Leftovers | Contrary
Timid Nature (+Spe / -Atk) | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
• Substitute
• Glare
• Leech Seed
• Leaf Storm
Up until this point, my team couldn't break through bulky water types, and what better punisher of bulky waters than Serperior? This is my third Substitute user and third paralysis setter, and Lefties + SubSeed + Glare allow Serp to force out would-be checks. For example, with Leech Seed and Leftovers recovery, assuming no Sand, 0 HP Serperior recovers 22% of its HP a turn versus 248 HP Heatran, easily stalling it out with Substitute, to say nothing of the amazing matchup against Chansey. As a monoattacking set with 1 attacking move, it won't be sweeping every game, but it can still cause problems to teams without a special wall or 4x resist.
Gothitelle @ Choice Scarf | Shadow Tag
Timid (+Spe / -Atk) | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: IV'd for HP Fire
• Psychic
• Thunderbolt
• HP Fire
• Trick
Gothitelle, the Swiss army knife of the team. Up until this point, my team is beaten by Mega Venusaur, phazing Skarmory, physically defensive Ferrothorn, and Unaware Clefable; Gothitelle has one move designed to beat each of them, respectively. In general, the ability to Trick an opposing threat is incredibly useful and can make or break the game. The IVs are dumped into speed with a Scarf so that Gothitelle can actually outspeed anything; the rest go into SpA for damage.
THREATS
Number one threat to my team is Mega Sableye, especially CM variants. None of my sweepers enjoy being burned, Gothitelle is worthless against it, and TTar can't set up rocks. Bulky Fairy types like DD + Refresh Mega Altaria and Specs Sylveon are somewhat hard to deal with, with MegaTaria not caring too much about status and not fearing any but Bisharp's attacks, and Sylveon hitting through subs with a powerful Hyper Voice and plowing through special wall TTar. Scizor hits my team pretty hard; I somehow ended up with a really bad weakness to bug, and now that I think about it, a lot of things with U-turn whomp me. Thundurus is a huge threat: immune to TWave, beats Slowbro soundly, with Superpower/HP Ice can take out Tyranitar/Garchomp, and resists Serperior's and Bisharp's main STABs. My main way of dealing with it is setting up Rocks and hoping for residual damage to take it out (LO hurts against subs). Additionally, even with Gothitelle, Shed Shell Skarmory (does anyone still run that?) and other bulky phazers can shuffle my team to high hell. Finally, Toxic Spikes are a huge pain to my team.
Overall, I really enjoy this team, and I think it capitalizes on a little-uses but potent strategy.
Overall, I really enjoy this team, and I think it capitalizes on a little-uses but potent strategy.
IMPORTABLE
Not sure how to do hide tags :( If someone tells me I can paste the team here.
Shoutouts to Trinitrotoluene for the badass RMT template and minakamiyuki and doughboy for inspiration. Please continue making badass, innovative, ladder-topping teams!
Thanks guys, and tell me what you think.
Shoutouts to Trinitrotoluene for the badass RMT template and minakamiyuki and doughboy for inspiration. Please continue making badass, innovative, ladder-topping teams!
Thanks guys, and tell me what you think.
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