SM OU Fireflies - Volcarona Bulky Offense Team

[NylaTheWolf]

Fireflies

I've really wanted to use Volcarona on a team before, so I built this team weeks ago. I'm proud of it, but it needs improvement.

The Team

Volcarona @ Buginium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Roost

Volcarona is the set-up sweeper of the team. Flamethrower is used instead of Fiery Dance due to the extra PP, as this set forces longer games, and over Fire Blast for accuracy. Bug Buzz, as well as Buginium Z, is used to hit Fire-resistant Pokemon like Tyranitar and Garchomp. Roost is used to keep Volcarona healthy so it can continue to check Mega Mawile and Kartana and set up on Mega Latios and Mega Alakazam. 248 HP gives Volcarona an odd number of HP (373) so it can take less from Stealth Rock. The 148 Speed with a Timid nature lets Volcarona outspeed Adamant Mega Medicham. The rest is poured into Defense so it could check Mega Mawile, Kartana, and Mega Scizor.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 12 SpA / 40 SpD / 192 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Nature's Madness
- Scald
- Taunt

Volcarona and Tapu Fini form a great core together. It is a Defogger and gets rid of Stealth Rock for Volcarona. It can also weaken Toxapex with Taunt and Nature's Madness and pivot into Heatran. Nature's Madness + Taunt is also good for Ferrothorn and AV Magearna. Scald can be used again Heatran, Landorus, Stealth Rock Gliscor, and Mega Mawile. 192 Speed EVs outspeed Modest Heatran and Timid Magearna. 12 SpA ensures that Fini will always 2HKO offensive Heatran. 16 Defense EVs allow Fini to stomach a 2+ Acrobatics from Hawlucha after Stealth Rock with Leftovers. The rest of the EVs are poured into Special Defense, and that coupled with a Calm nature makes it easier to fight Heatran and Ash Greninja. Misty Terrain also protects my team, especially Volcarona and Mega Mawile, from status.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk / 68 Def / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog

Landorus is my Choice Scarfer and second Defogger. Because Volcarona loses half of its HP on Stealth Rocks, I wanted to have 2 Defoggers to keep 'em off the field. U-Turn helps keep momentum and lets his teammates switch in safely, especially Volcarona. Stone Edge helps him remove Tornadus, Gyarados, Mega Charizard Y, and Mega Pinsir. The 208 Speed EVs with a Jolly nature allows Landorus to outspeed a boosted Kommo-o by one point. The 68 Defense EVs allows Landorus to survive a +2 Acrobatics from Hawlucha after Stealth Rocks. The rest is poured into Attack.

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Thunder Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Brick Break

Mawile is the team's wallbreaker. Thunder Punch is used to help with Toxapex, something Volcarona doesn't appreciate. It can also hit Skarmory and Celesteela. Sucker Punch hits faster opponents like Kartana or Mega Alakazam and can be used to revenge kill. Brick Break is used for Ferrothorn and Heatran. It can even OHKO offensive Heatran sets! 164 Speed is used to outspeed Skarmory. I like to use Intimidate over Hyper Cutter so Mawile could hinder and possibly beat Hawlucha and Gyarados.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

Ferrothorn is used as a hazard setter and an overall great defensive Pokemon with a mix of good physical and special defense. Leech Seed helps Ferrothorn recover in conjunction with Leftovers and helps wear down Pokemon. Gyro Ball is a STAB move and I have 0 Speed IVs and a Speed lowering nature to make it as powerful as possible. Power Whip can OHKO Ash Greninja and deal major damage to Manaphy and Fini. 232 Special Defense, max HP, and a Sassy nature ensures Ash Greninja can't 3HKO at full HP. Ferrothorn has 24 Defense to ensure he can take Gyarados' +1 Supersonic Skystrike at full HP.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Max HP and Special Defense ensures Toxapex can switch into Ash Greninja, Volcarona, Mega Diancie, and Mega Charizard Y. Black Sludge is used to punish Trick users. Haze prevents Toxapex from being set-up fodder. I'm using Toxic Spikes to cripple grounded Pokemon every time they switch in. Toxapex can also check Magearna, Mega Scizor, and Mega Lopunny.
​

Importable

Volcarona @ Buginium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Roost

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 12 SpA / 40 SpD / 192 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Nature's Madness
- Scald
- Taunt

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk / 68 Def / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Thunder Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Brick Break

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Threats:

Tangrowth

Kartana

Mega Medicham

Mega Sableye
(While I have Mawile, Will-o-Wisp keeps me from using it)

Opposing Volcarona
(Ironically, I don't do well against opposing Volcarona)

Hawlucha​

 

[NylaTheWolf]

bumpity bump bump

 

[Bold School]

What is your plan of attack? It seems to me like you are trying to go balanced. I don't know if your offensive core is fully thought out or not, though. You wanted to build the team around Volcarona, right? So when you add attackers, you should add at least one that has great offensive synergy with it. Now I don't know if your Lando-T and Mega Mawhile fit well with it or not since I have never used them all in combination before. It's possible you could improve your team's performance just by adding a pokemon with better offensive synergy with Volcarona. However, I don't really know your team well enough to say if you truly need that. My first instinct is yes, but I'm also a pretty aggressive player.

Another thing that stood out to me was having both Tapu Fini and Toxapex on the same team. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you can't have then both. It's just a possible area for improvement if you don't need both. Having two water pokemon isn't always a problem, particularly since you have an electric immunity and an electric resist already on your team. But since both water types appear to be sort of defensive, it may not be necessary to have both on your team. I noticed you listed some grass types as threats. As for which one to get rid of, if any, that really depends on your team and what you need. Toxapex is generally better as a pure defensive option. However, Tapu Fini can be excellent support. In addition, Tapu Fini synergizes really well with Volcarona and Ferrothorn, so my first instinct is your team probably wants to prioritize keeping it.

About your Tapu Fini set. Scald is sort of a niche choice on it, since Misty Terrain prevents burns until it wears out. It's not bad per say. It's just not really efficient. If you do keep Tapu Fini, I recommend replacing Scald with a more powerful water move. Surf has more power and is reliable. However, Brine has great synergy with Nature's Madness since the power doubles if the target is at half health or less. So it then becomes 130 power instead of 65, which should help make Tapu Fini a greater threat against a lot of walls since it already has Taunt and Nature's Madness. Another thing to keep in mind is the match up against Sableye, which you listed under your threats. Misty Terrain prevents burns so Mega Mawhile can take it out without fear, too.

I have one other possible suggestion. Have you considered using Hawlucha on your team instead of Toxapex? Hawlucha isn't normally paired with Tapu Fini since the special defense buff from Misty Seed isn't normally as good as the defensive buff from Electric or Grass Seeds and the other Tapus typically make better offensive threats. However, you can still use Hawlucha with Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain and this might make an interesting physical threat to pair with Volcarona. At the very least, it could deal with threats you listed like Tangrowth, Kartana, and Mega Medicham as well as a lot of other offensive threats like using unburden to outspeed Ash Greninja, Mega Lopunny, and +2 quiver dance Volcarona. And with Misty Terrain support, it couldn't be burned or paralyzed while that is up. Not sure if this would make your team more offensive than you might like. But it is a decent option that covers a lot of the threats you specifically mentioned.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

If you do keep Tapu Fini, I recommend replacing Scald with a more powerful water move. Surf has more power and is reliable. However, Brine has great synergy with Nature's Madness since the power doubles if the target is at half health or less. So it then becomes 130 power instead of 65, which should help make Tapu Fini a greater threat against a lot of walls since it already has Taunt and Nature's Madness.

Scald is only slightly weaker than Surf, and it can burn non-grounded Pokemon as well as opposing Tapus, most notably Bulu. Brine is just bad, even with Nature's Madness. Most Pokemon try to have an odd HP stat, so Nature's Madness will usually leave them at 51% HP.

 

[Bold School]

Scald is only slightly weaker than Surf, and it can burn non-grounded Pokemon as well as opposing Tapus, most notably Bulu. Brine is just bad, even with Nature's Madness. Most Pokemon try to have an odd HP stat, so Nature's Madness will usually leave them at 51% HP.

It's not that you can't run Scald on Tapu Fini. However, it's not exactly the most efficient thing in the world when Misty Terrain prevents the burns that make the move actually worth using. So there is really no point in using Scald unless there is a terrain change or you plan on keeping Fini in for awhile. Like more than 5 turns. And really, Tapu Bulu is generally the only reason to keep it for the terrain change since burn tends not to hurt Koko or Lele as much. And while you can sometimes find a physical Koko set that doesn't like burn, you aren't going to keep Fini in against Bulu or Koko anyway because their STABs wreck it. It's basically just a niche choice that relies on you hitting Bulu or Koko on the switch or staying in a long time.

Surf's power under STAB goes from 90 to more like 135 with the 50% STAB bonus, while Scald goes from 80 to only 120. That's effectively more like a 15 power difference than 10, and said difference becomes greater the more multipliers you get like if it's super effective or whatever. I know the damage formula and that I oversimplified it here. My point is the higher base power gives higher multiplier bonuses and a higher starting point to add it to. Technically, even 10 power difference would be more efficient in most cases. Another potential option for more power is Hydro Pump. Though I'm not sure the lower accuracy is worth it here.

As far as Nature's Madness goes, it works fine for getting under half health with hazard support and/or nearly any amount of prior chip damage whatsoever. If you look at his set, he has Taunt to prevent active recovery as well. If you look at his team, he has stealth rock, scarf U-Turn from Landorus, and plenty of other opportunities for chip damage. For Brine counters, the most common Regenerator pokemon in the tier are Toxapex, Tangrowth, and Tornadus. The first two aren't impacted by water type moves much anyway. I think Gliscor is the only real thing that Brine would be significantly worse against than Scald or another water move like Surf. Even then, Scald and Surf aren't exactly a guaranteed 2HKO against it anyway after Poison Heal. So I'm not sure it does much harm there.

 

[NylaTheWolf]

Alright, so I replaced Toxapex with Hawlucha.

Someone on Showdown did give me some advice.

Volcarona @ Buginium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Roost

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 32 SpA / 12 SpD / 200 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Taunt

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk / 68 Def / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 180 HP / 204 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Thunder Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Brick Break

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 16 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

Hawlucha @ Misty Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Stone Edge

• Volcarona's 160 speed outspeeds non-scarf and non-Sand Rush Excadrill.
• Tapu Fini's 16 Defense EVs, a Bold nature and Moonblast help deal with opposing Hawlucha, with 200 Speed for the rare Adamant Diggersby. I wasn't sure if I should go with Surf or Scald.
• Mega Mawile has 180 HP to survive a HJK from Hawlucha after Stealth Rocks so it could possibly OHKO it with Thunder Punch (as long as Electric Terrain is still up if it's Electric Seed Hawlucha.
  • 252+ Atk Hawlucha High Jump Kick vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 153-180 (53.4 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
  • (Before Mega Evolution) -1 252+ Atk Hawlucha High Jump Kick vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Mawile: 141-166 (49.3 - 58%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
  • 204+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Thunder Punch vs. +1 96 HP / 0 Def Hawlucha: 252-298 (78.5 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • 204+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Thunder Punch vs. +1 96 HP / 0 Def Electric Seed Hawlucha in Electric Terrain: 378-446 (117.7 - 138.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• Ferro's EV spread tanks both a +1 Supersonic Skystrike from Gyarados and Ash Greninja. 32 Attack is just the rest of the EVs
• Hawlucha has Stone Edge for Zapdos. I don't have any bulk because Clef's Moonblast doesn't KO after the Special Defense boost.

I could also go max speed Lando to outspeed Porygon Z after it sets up but it's really rare.

What do you guys think?

 

[Diophantine]

Hi Nyla, as promised, here are my thoughts.

General Criticism:

Hide

Nature's Madness + Taunt is also good for Ferrothorn and AV Magearna.

I disagree with this as Ferrothorn is able to hit pretty hard with Power Whip and Magearna can still chip with Volt Switch. Nature's Madness can be useful for hitting Magearna harder, but people typically won't just throw it in to Tapu Fini.

16 Defense EVs allow Fini to stomach a 2+ Acrobatics from Hawlucha after Stealth Rock with Leftovers.

I don't see the point in this as you aren't running Moonblast anyway so you can't beat Hawlucha, unless your gameplan is to burn it with a Scald - but that's pretty inconsistent.

The 68 Defense EVs allows Landorus to survive a +2 Acrobatics from Hawlucha after Stealth Rocks.

Again, how useful is this? You can't touch Hawlucha.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

The problem with Toxic Spikes is that you are running Tapu Fini who has Misty Terrain which prevents grounded foes from being poisoned.

One massive threat that I noticed that you have not considered is Tornadus - one of the most common Pokemon in the metagame. You have no safe switch in to it, and so it causes a massive problem for you.
Another problem is the rain matchup. You have no safe switch for Mega Swampert.

I suggest removing Toxapex and Tapu Fini for Rotom-W and Tornadus.
This gives you extra counterplay to Kartana, Mega Swampert, Scarfed Landorus, Tornadus, while you are still able to cover Greninja.
Hawlucha remains a problem - perhaps you could go with Explosion on Landorus.

Importable

Also you missed the perfect opportunity to use this song:

 

[NylaTheWolf]

Hi Nyla, as promised, here are my thoughts.

General Criticism:

Hide

I disagree with this as Ferrothorn is able to hit pretty hard with Power Whip and Magearna can still chip with Volt Switch. Nature's Madness can be useful for hitting Magearna harder, but people typically won't just throw it in to Tapu Fini.


I don't see the point in this as you aren't running Moonblast anyway so you can't beat Hawlucha, unless your gameplan is to burn it with a Scald - but that's pretty inconsistent.


Again, how useful is this? You can't touch Hawlucha.


The problem with Toxic Spikes is that you are running Tapu Fini who has Misty Terrain which prevents grounded foes from being poisoned.

One massive threat that I noticed that you have not considered is Tornadus - one of the most common Pokemon in the metagame. You have no safe switch in to it, and so it causes a massive problem for you.
Another problem is the rain matchup. You have no safe switch for Mega Swampert.

I suggest removing Toxapex and Tapu Fini for Rotom-W and Tornadus.
This gives you extra counterplay to Kartana, Mega Swampert, Scarfed Landorus, Tornadus, while you are still able to cover Greninja.
Hawlucha remains a problem - perhaps you could go with Explosion on Landorus.

Importable

Also you missed the perfect opportunity to use this song:

Alrighty! I'll try it, but I'm not 100% confident in removing Tapu Fini

I actually had that song in mind when I made that title! I just didn't link it ^^'