TEAM PREVIEW
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS
I actually started this team with Mega Ampharos in mind, so bear with me because my team building process is a little distractable :)
Specially defensive Mega Ampharos is a good check in a lot of specific scenarios. It shrugs off all but the strongest fire, water, grass, electric, and flying moves.
Added pivot Scizor and banded Talonflame. Scizor has excellent defensive synergy with Mega Ampharos, together the only thing they can't really handle is a bulky ground type. Talonflame doesn't do much to alleviate this, but it appreciates Mega Ampharos' resistances. It also takes advantage of all these slow U-turns and Volt switches to fire off Choice band Brave birds to punch holes in more defensive mons. It also drastically improves the matchup against offense, being max speed invested and getting the OHKO on a lot of glass cannons.
Defensive Slowbro and Spikes Chesnaught really round out the defensive synergy of the team. They have good matchups against bulky grounds and waters respectively but sadly both are crippled by Toxic and Chesnaught doesn't like getting burned. Spikes helps with getting bulkier pokemon in KO range for my priority users.
Talonflame simply can't operate with Stealth rock on the field, especially when using Brave bird over Acrobatics. Specially defensive Mold breaker Excadrill provides Rapid spin, another hazard in Stealth rock, and an option against Fairy types that isn't OHKO by defensive Clefable's Flamethrower (looking at you Scizor).
At this point I realized that Mega Ampharos wasn't getting a lot of effective use. Its niches of being able to tank certain special hits, absorb status, and Rest up just weren't coming up. It was simply being crippled by strong blows and not being fast or healthy enough to Rest.
Tyrantrum provides very similar resistances to Mega Ampharos, while trading some unfortunate weaknesses for being a devastating wallbreaker. A lot of people are unprepared to switch in to a Choice band Head smash. To make up for the loss of Ampharos' defensive prowess, I moved my Mega slot to Scizor and switched Talonflame to the 248 HP/252 Atk set with Acrobatics and Roost, so that it was less susceptible to worn down to the point where it was unable to check the threats I needed it to.
However, Mega Scizor was also not getting a lot of use - my existing defensive core was providing better switch-ins for most scenarios. My team was also being needlessly crippled by status and was occasionally being reverse swept by things that Talonflame couldn't revenge kill and/or resisted Bullet punch.
Unaware Clefable walls pokemon that rely on boosting their attack to succeed. It can't check MegaZard X because it does so much immediate neutral damage - but Mega Slowbro can! I noticed that CM Slowbro was a succesful win condition for this team and the Mega stone can amplify that. It also provides Heal bell support to remove toxic, burns, and paralysis, which were a nightmare. It can also use Wish to keep pokemon healthy and able to continue being checks. Even Mega Slowbro appreciates this as it loses Regenerator eventually.
SETS
Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off
Standard CM MegaBro. Not as proficient at taking physical hits on the switch-in (before Mega evolving) as the regular lefties set, but still good. Also an excellent Keldeo check, especially with Clefable on the side to cleanse burns if necessary. Iron Defense is sometimes slashed on there but it's less worth considering (as far I can tell) with Unaware Clefable on the team.
Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off
Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Drain Punch
- Spikes
- Substitute
I've been seriously loving this pokemon - it has its downfalls, such as quite low speed that unfortunately makes it vulnerable to crippling moves from other defensive pokemon such as Rotom-w's Will-o-wisp, which it otherwise would have a great matchup against. Its special defense has been described as poor but it's on the higher end of below average at 88/75.
A wonderful user of Leech seed, and the secondary Fighting type absorbs Rock and Dark type moves giving it a good matchup against Pursuit users looking to chunk out Slowbro. I prefer Substitute as I found I didn't really need the Grass STAB of Wood Hammer and it eases prediction and helps deal with status. This was before I added Cleric Clefable to the team, so I still think Wood Hammer is worth considering. Substitute also has great synergy with Leech seed and Leftovers. Spikes helps Tyrantrum and Talonflame nab a lot of KOs on defensive pokemon.
It has a strange ability in Bulletproof, which ranges from useless to bizarrely amazing. Most notably it makes it immune to common and powerful moves like Sludge bomb, Shadow ball, and Focus blast. Chesnaught can switch in on these moves or just take them for free if the opponent (understandably) forgets about this ability, but what it does to common users of these moves afterwards is a different story.
Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp
Rounds out a nice F/W/G core with Slowbro and Chesnaught. Specially defensive Talonflame is taken over the Swords dance set I was using in order to check MegaZard Y which otherwise has a field day with my team. It also fares decently well against Mega Gardevoir and Gengar, both of which threaten Slowbro and Chesnaught. This team really wishes Talonflame carried a Fire STAB here to hit Steel types, but many of these are crippled by Will-o-wisp, which is a very valuable move on a balance oriented team like this one.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Tyrantrum @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
I was considering switching this to Choice scarf but it only sort improves its matchup against Mega Pinsir and I already have a solid MegaZard Y check in Talonflame. Also, I felt I would sorely miss the wallbreaking power it provided, taking huge chunks or even outright KOing a lot of defensive pokemon that would otherwise stop a low damage team in its tracks, especially after Spikes and/or Stealth rock. It can often switch in to Talonflame, resisting both its STABS, but taking any damage at all puts it in KO range for Mega Pinsir's Close combat, making bird spam pretty good against this team.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect
This pokemon significantly increases the longevity of the team. Flamethrower would be nice for weakening Steel types, but Heal bell is very important with a team like this, not to mention that without Magic guard Clefable itself is vulnerable to status. It's particularly good against relatively low damage pokemon that rely on boosting moves to break defensive pokemon, and Dragon types in general. It also rounds out a D/F/S core with Excadrill and Tyrantrum. Although the three don't have the best defensive synergy, their Ground and Fighting weaknesses are covered by Slowbro, Chesnaught and Talonflame.
THREATS
STEEL TYPES
STEEL TYPES
Leech seed/Protect Ferro can be annoying to break. Although Mega Slowbro actually doesn't mind sitting in on Ferrothorn, especially if it has been burned. Mega Scizor can set up Swords dance on Tyrantrum if its locked into something that isn't Fire fang and proceed to OHKO with Bullet punch. In general Mega Slowbro has a pretty good matchup here but cannot get into a boosting war because it does not carry Iron defense. SD Bisharp can be scary, but only if Chesnaught is weakened or eliminated.
Luckily, physically defensive and specially defensive variants of Skarmory are both outspeed and 2HKO'd (or forced to roost spam) by Tyrantrum's Head smash. Mega Slowbro can set up Calm mind on Mega Metagross variants that carry Grass knot.
MEGA PINSIR feat. BIRD SPAM
feat.
This monster spells trouble for a lot of my pokemon. It 2HKOs Clefable through Unaware, even with a Protect for leftovers recovery most of the time. Tyrantrum barely survives an unboosted Close combat but is KO'd by Quick attack right afterward if it switched in. Choice scarf improves Tyrantrum's matchup here slightly by allowing it to outpseed and preserve its HP on the revenge kill, but it dies just the same on a switch-in predicted by the opponent.
After a Swords dance the situation is even worse. Mega Slowbro has the best matchup here but is still 2HKO by +2 Return. If Talonflame is perfectly healthy and Pinsir has taken some damage, it can survive a +2 Quick attack and revenge kill it, making putting down Stealth rock and/or burning Pinsir vital in this matchup.
Talonflame, or more rarely Staraptor weakening my bird spam switch-ins also makes it worse.
HYPER OFFENSE
Nothing on this team is exactly a brick wall (except maybe Mega Slowbro for many physical attackers) and SpDef Talonflame is "only" 290 speed with +1 priority so it can be outsped by things like Extremespeed and faster priority users.
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