Battle Spot Doubles: Giant Flying Battering Ram

Moving out of the workshop since this is technically six slots. Team itself is a fairly straightforward, fast-and-brutal offensive team I've been working on as a side project, since I'm sure everyone is sick of my Char-Y teams and dank puns. Behold the splendor now that I have decided not to use Arbok in this team!

Preview:

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Metagross
@ Metagrossite
Jolly, 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Speed
Ability: Clear Body (Tough Claws)

- Iron Head
- Protect
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt

The Giant Flying Battering Ram itself, Mega Metagross loves to spam Iron Head and watch as foes either explode or flinch. I started the team with Metagross since it gave me a lot of flexibility: it can function with or without its Mega Stone, has only a small handful of weaknesses, and excels against Mega Salamence and Mega Gardevoir; two things I always seem to have issues with. The set is extremely simple, right out of the Smogdex (something I basically never do). Max Speed and Atk for pain, Jolly to outrun the massive list of mons Adamant falls short of, STABs + Protect because we're playing Doubles, and Ice Punch because Mega Metagross has the best damn non-STAB Ice Punch in the game to smack down Lando-T, Mence, Garchomp, Zapdos, Thundurus, and the ever famous list of things weak to Ice.
Sub Metagross is nice but basically requires Togekiss as a team mate and while I have no issue with that, that's not the choice I made for the team.

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Modest, 4 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed
Ability: Levitate

- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dark Pulse

Hydreigon perfectly covers all of Metagross' weaknesses, and offensively they pair pretty well. Metagross utterly decimates Fairy and Fighting types, while Hydreigon spams Dark Pulse at everything for even more flinchspam while the opponent is hard-pressed to stop it from doing so. Hydreigon can also eliminate pesky Heatran, Rotom formes, opposing Steel types, and also acts as a second check to Landorus and other Dragons if Metagross is unable to smite them. Cresselia, Aegislash, Gengar, and other bothers are also kept in check, along with Char-Y to some extent. Moveset is the bread and butter Scarf set that shouldn't need much explaination. Spam Dark Pulse, if you REALLY need something to die then hit Draco Meteor, and if you need Terrakion or a Fire mon dead hit Earth Power and switch out before you're walled. Fire Blast is there in case of Ferrothorn, and is actually rather comical to spam against a Sun team. But mostly its there because it used to be on a Sun team. /shockamazement

Azumarill @ Mystic Water
Adamant, 204 HP, 252 Atk, 52 Speed.
Ability: Huge Power

- Waterfall
- Protect
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough

Azumarill is something I found that has utterly absurd synergy with Metagross and Hydreigon, not only completing a Dragon/Steel/Fairy core, but also adding even more anti-Dragon hatred just in case someone is running Timid Specs Hydra against me. Powerful STAB boosted Waterfall and Aqua Jet mow down Fire types all day, while the 1-2 punch of Waterfall + AJ racks a lot of useful KOs. I never liked the Belly Drum set, so I tried this instead and it has been fantastic. Azumarill hits just about everything very hard just with STAB coverage, and the things it misses (Empoleon, Tentacruel, Ferrothorn, Amoonguss) are mercilessly crushed by Metagross or Hydreigon. EVs are a faster Belly Drum set, outruns neutral 100's like Kangaskhan with Tailwind up if you're really curious, but mostly it's just a speedcreep.
Oh and Lando-T really has no hope at this stage, I could run Electivire + Charizard + Scyther at this point and still not give a fuck lol.

Virizion @ Life Orb
Jolly, 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Speed
Ability: Justified

- Leaf Blade
- Protect
- Stone Edge / Swords Dance / etc
- Close Combat

Now, if you've had your gears spinning, you'll have notice the huge gaping hole I have against Kangaskhan and Suicune. Rain would also be an issue, as Hydreigon can't eat Ice Beams forever.
Virizion, with Life Orb and STAB, just barely manages to OHKO Kangaskhan while outrunning it, and while it miserably fails to OHKO most bulky Waters (Suicune, Milotic, Azumarill...), it does still exert huge pressure tanks to not really caring about Ice Beam with that stupidly good Sp. def. Physical set was chosen since Focus Blast is absolute fucking garbage, if Virizion had remotely good special Fighting STAB I'd be running CM in a heartbeat. Even then, I'm tempted to run it anyway.
Set is standard; jolly and max Speed to outrun as much as I can, Khan especially, with Stone Edge being our only Rock coverage to hit Char-Y and Gyarados with. LO is absolutely required to OHKO even the frailest Kangaskhan. STABs + Protect because Doubles.

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Timid, 252 HP, 120 Def, 108 Sp. Def, 28 Speed
Ability: Prankster
Item: Sitrus Berry

- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
- HP Ice

Now what do we need? Oh yes, the team is fast as all hell so it needs Speed support since it's utterly destroyed by opposing Tailwind and Icy Wind. Virizion gives us a giant and largely uncovered Flying issue (Talonflame doesn't care about Metagross at all), and we still need some extra cushion against opposing Water mons, Gyarados especially. Oh, and we definetly need something that isn't utterly destroyed by Thunder Wave. So what's the answer to all the above? T-Wave Rotom-W, you're right!
But, Thundy is the next best spot, and doesn't have to coinflip a 50/50 hit with Hydro Pump every time it sees Landog.
Evs are something I conjured myself with a Timid Thundy I had laying around, it outruns max Speed Gyarados (+81) and neutral 95's like Arcanine. And pretty much every other bulky Thundy / Zapdos on the market. Rest is dumped into bulk, not entirely sure what it does but it stomach's Kangaskhan just fine. Protect is odd on Thundy, but honestly Taunt was utter trash for me and Protect has been great to extend Thundy's torment past its usual 2-turn lifespan. HP Ice because I got sick of sitting in front of Landog and Amoonguss and doing nothing.
I am 100% open to running Zapdos though, I like them both. Could probably use some extra Heat Wave coverage or something.
Oh, and T-Wave adds to the flinch-spam misery of Dark Pulse, Waterfall, and Iron Head.

Arcanine @ Rocky Helmet
Bold, 252 HP, 148 Def, 36 Sp. Atk, 12 Sp. Def, 60 Speed.
Ability: Intimidate

- Flamethrower
- Morning Sun
- Will-o-Wisp
- Snarl

Now what do we want on finishing touches? Well, I could use some extra support against Khan, and we currently have a Water and Grass mon, so why not finish an elemental core? We're also kinda lacking in the support and bulk departments, and could use an extra Fairy resist. Can't have Gardevoir sweep me after a cheap potshot on Metagross. So we have... Arcanine!
Bulky with tons of supports to maim both physical and special attackers, and can even heal himself.
Spread is the Smogdex spread. Outruns Adamant Bisharp, OHKOs 4/0 Bisharp with Flamethrower, bulk allows you to dodge a 2HKO from Terrakion and Jolly Kanga if you're running Sitrus; Thundy already has that consumed so I went with Rocky Helmet instead; Leftovers could be used as well. Morning Sun was added just to keep up HP. Rocky Helmet, WoW, and Intimidate is probably enough to discourage Khan, imo.

Basically posting this up to ask:

- Zapdos or Thundy? Zapdos I can run a Roost + Rocky set with, Expert Belt, idk. Thundy could be changed to be more offensive with Expert Belt. Both of these would allow Sitrus on Arcanine.

- Arcanine set look ok?

- Am I missing something obvious that I lack an answer to?
 
You and your hide tags lol. As if people go on your RMT but don't wanna see your team :P

I like Zapdos. Priority T-Wave messes up some of those rain mons that can be gross for you, but Zapdos can take just about any hit from them if hasn't been weakened enough, and then T-Wave. Has recovery, and Static punishes lots of stuff like Kang and Gross sometimes. Zapdos is quite a bit bulkier on both sides even without recovery being factored in. Still fast to begin with, and actually has the same base SpA as Thund. Moves i'm not really sold on Heat Wave. As a non-STAB spread move it really doesn't do much to anything not 4x weak, and Ferro is pretty well covered I think. Maybe the same moves as Thund has would be good.

I like the Arcanine, and it's even better with Sitrus free. One problem i'm still seeing is Cress. I mentioned it earlier, but thot I might've been exaggerating. Not really. Scarf Hydra only 3hkos 252/4 Cress after Sitrus, and Metagross actually only has a 15% chance to 4hko max Def after Sitrus. So those two have to basically double target her to increase likelihood of a flinch, and if she sets TR... They're also very vulnerable to possible Protects, and Cress that've had time to set CMs already since Hydra won't be doing very much after two or three(or one, really.) If TR is up flinches aren't happening, and more Cress set TR than run T-Wave or Icy Wind. On her deathbed Cress can still Helping Hand and go out with a bang, and you can bet anyone with a Cress on their tem will bring her. Other than HydraGross(which is dubious as mentioned,) you really have no way past Cress at all. Mayb chip with WoW and Azu...which has a good chance to 4hko max Def Sitrus...and sac like half your team. Only works if Cress's teammate basically just sits there and does nothing tho.

...i'm enjoying this too much. Not trying to be mean or say your team sux(tho the Char Y one is prolly bettr,) it looks really good besides the Cress thing. Like you've fixed it vs rainy stuff like Colo and Kingdra, and looks great vs all the rest of CHALK. Just that Cress thing, but she is pretty tough to cover. Can't think of much what would help with Cress. A more traditional Specs Hydra would go a long way, but it still won't ohko in one hit, and if it's not locked into DP...but that's a problem either way. Taunt stops most of Cress's stuff besides Icy Wind, and para more than makes up for those Spe drops. You don't really seem to like Taunt tho, and I can agree that it's situational. Other than that...Toxic? No clue where to fit that and really seems like an awkward move on a fast paced team. Knock Off on Azu would be a big help, but you'd have to totally revamp the set or give up Protect. idk, good luck tho:)
 
You and your hide tags lol. As if people go on your RMT but don't wanna see your team :P

I like Zapdos. Priority T-Wave messes up some of those rain mons that can be gross for you, but Zapdos can take just about any hit from them if hasn't been weakened enough, and then T-Wave. Has recovery, and Static punishes lots of stuff like Kang and Gross sometimes. Zapdos is quite a bit bulkier on both sides even without recovery being factored in. Still fast to begin with, and actually has the same base SpA as Thund. Moves i'm not really sold on Heat Wave. As a non-STAB spread move it really doesn't do much to anything not 4x weak, and Ferro is pretty well covered I think. Maybe the same moves as Thund has would be good.

I like the Arcanine, and it's even better with Sitrus free. One problem i'm still seeing is Cress. I mentioned it earlier, but thot I might've been exaggerating. Not really. Scarf Hydra only 3hkos 252/4 Cress after Sitrus, and Metagross actually only has a 15% chance to 4hko max Def after Sitrus. So those two have to basically double target her to increase likelihood of a flinch, and if she sets TR... They're also very vulnerable to possible Protects, and Cress that've had time to set CMs already since Hydra won't be doing very much after two or three(or one, really.) If TR is up flinches aren't happening, and more Cress set TR than run T-Wave or Icy Wind. On her deathbed Cress can still Helping Hand and go out with a bang, and you can bet anyone with a Cress on their tem will bring her. Other than HydraGross(which is dubious as mentioned,) you really have no way past Cress at all. Mayb chip with WoW and Azu...which has a good chance to 4hko max Def Sitrus...and sac like half your team. Only works if Cress's teammate basically just sits there and does nothing tho.

...i'm enjoying this too much. Not trying to be mean or say your team sux(tho the Char Y one is prolly bettr,) it looks really good besides the Cress thing. Like you've fixed it vs rainy stuff like Colo and Kingdra, and looks great vs all the rest of CHALK. Just that Cress thing, but she is pretty tough to cover. Can't think of much what would help with Cress. A more traditional Specs Hydra would go a long way, but it still won't ohko in one hit, and if it's not locked into DP...but that's a problem either way. Taunt stops most of Cress's stuff besides Icy Wind, and para more than makes up for those Spe drops. You don't really seem to like Taunt tho, and I can agree that it's situational. Other than that...Toxic? No clue where to fit that and really seems like an awkward move on a fast paced team. Knock Off on Azu would be a big help, but you'd have to totally revamp the set or give up Protect. idk, good luck tho:)

Gonna try Thundy first and and if it's too squishy I can swap over to Zapdos; Zapdos will improve my Thundy matchup anyway.

Cress... uuuurrrgh it does wreck with a CM set. I mean, my CM Cress does wreck at least 60% of every team I see but still. Metagross walls it for-fucking-ever but not if its Rocky Helmet:

+6 4 SpA Cresselia Psyshock vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Metagross: 25-30 (16 - 19.2%) -- possible 6HKO. Icy Wind is even worse. 4HKO > 6HKO xD

Could always do CB Arcanine, I'm not opposed.
Volcarona works in the Fire slot but makes me very iffy on Talonflame, since it gets a free hit on basically everything with Arcanine gone. Volc adds Tailwind if I felt like it, but then I have two mons with low Def, high Sp. Def, and Flying weaknesses (Virizion + Volc) with no Intimidate / WoW at all.
Luxray rapes Thundy, Intimidate + Electric STAB for Talonflame, Snarl Support, but I'm not sure I want to go that niche. Volc + Hydra is pretty nice offense though, especially with Metagross crushing Gardevoir.
Burn damage does wear down Cress pretty fast though. And paralysis + massive flinch spam could be enough... I dunno, I guess I'll try Arcanine first then swap to Volc if I straight up cannot break it. AV Knock Off Azu too maybe idk.

Sun team is better yes, LOL. Mostly because sun-buffed CM Rocky Cress is enough of a sin to make Satan cringe. Did I tell you I finally settled on a Khan and Gardevoir check? :P

edit: hide tags because it reduces the amount of scrolling I have to do. Lazy is an art form.
 
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