Gen 6 Spike Stacking w/PHP

[Megaman Zero 4]

Megaman Zero here! Some of you may know me back from Gen 5 Ubers where I barraged the Ubers ladder with countless Megaman Zero accounts. Some of you might have even known me back when I was Megaman Zero 1! Anyways, this team has been one of my funner ones to use in Gen 6, even given the fact that it is a pretty stallish team. I still ladder on Gen 6 Ladder frequently, albeit under alts. I topped the ladder at number 11 w/this, but ladder sucks so no props for me, still fun though :[ . Plus this team is probably garbage in the bigger picture, considering how twat Gen 6 Ubers is.

Anyways since I'm lazy, I won't go through the team building process, well that and tbh, I can't remember it lol.

The Team:

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball

Ye. Keeping it real, Spike Stacking in Gen 6. It works OK (or maybe that's only because ladder sucks) because most Arceus that do run Defog use the same 3 moves, WOW, Judgement (usually Rock/Fairy/Grass/Water) and Recover. Defog Arceus can't really do much with leech seed recovering 12% each turn and with and additional 6% from leftovers, so that's one trade I can deal with. Gyro Ball is for Taunt user such as Mega-Gaygar, which cant beat Ferro w/o DBond unless I'm at like 40% (or unless it carries Focus Miss). Protect is standard and is still really useful if used well. I choose Spikes over Stealth Rocks because I can stack more. Ferrothorn also serves as a second Kyorge check, not to Specs though. EV spread is Self Explanatory.

Kyogre @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Scald
- Roar

I choose Sleep Talk instead of the usual Scarf/Specs route because I wanted something that would work well with Ferro, and it is one of my personal favourite sets. Its also a good check to lead offensive Groudons who try to take mah weather. The EV spread is pretty simple, maximize its defensive bulk with Max HP. I do also Speed Creep more than the 4 Speed EVS, just chose not to reveal by how much lol. Oh, and if healthy enough, it can phase/burn Ekiller.

Gaygar @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Destiny Bond
- Taunt

I choose him over the other Mega's so I can trap Arceus Forms carrying defog because if I can kill them it makes it much easier for Ferrothron to whittle away at the opposing team. He also serves as an E-Killer Check with Destiny Bond providing he has already Mega Evolved, or also if the Ekiller isn't max speed. It's also useful for Chansey's and Lugia's lacking Aeroblast and such if I can double switch into them. And in general, it just has amazing utility. For the moveset, Taunt is so I can beat all the stall mons. Shadow Ball is there for General Stab, DBond is there if I really want to kill an opposing mon that I feel threatens my team. Sludge b/c it hits Fairyceus/Xern and other stuff. I chose to forego Focus Blast because I don't find the use for it, and personal preference as well

Arceus-Rock @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 16 SAtk / 116 Spd
Timid Nature
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Stealth Rock

Pretty Self explanatory. I'm pretty sure no one needs an introduction to this set lol. It's used for Ho Oh checking, although Band EQ Sucks, and so does Burn. This set is the standard support set with the only difference being Rocks > Defog, as since I spike stack, I don't want to Defog away my own Spikes lol. Rocks because I had no other place to put it. 16 SAtk, because yeah. 116 Timid Speed is enough to out speed Base 100s. WOW is great for Zekrom, Khan's, other Arceus's and other Physical Attackers. It can also beat non Lum / Jolly EKiller w/WOW.

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 4 HP / 252 SDef
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell

Next we have this sexy beast. It is my only Geo-Xerneas check and acts as a second Kyorge check should Ferrothron fall, thought both get decimated by SpecsOgre lel. It's job is pretty simple, Paralyze whatever lies in its path and dispose of it with Critical Hit Powered SToss's. Plus, this thing is still a beast on tanking any and all special attacks, but, having this on my team leaves me prone to a lot of double switch's, so watch out for that considering the skill/playstyle of your opponent. The last slot Heal Bell because screw status. Anyways, if Opp has Gaygar on team, I have to play accordingly, and can't let my self get double switched on, so you just Double Switch the Double Switch imo.

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Shadow Sneak
- Stone Edge
- Will-O-Wisp

Last but not least we have Giratina-O. Obviously not as good as it was in Generation 5, but it still does a good job. With Ferrothorn laying down Spikes it can really rack up damage with D-Tail. The most common switch in to Giratina is Ho-oh as most people expect a WOW which is where dat sexy Stone Edge comes in to play trelelelel. hadow sneak is my only priority move on this team and it very good at picking off the Mega-Mewtwos and Gaygar's . Also with the Steel resist to ghost gone it can revenge kill things like Dialga better. It is also an E-killer check should Gengar not be alive or has not Mega Evolved yet. EV Spread was simple, max Atk, and max HP, and yes, I speed creep on this too lol.

Threat List:

Specs Ogre: Switching in Ogre/Ferro into it is never fun! Anyways, if you know the Ogre is Specs, don't be a n00b. Play accordingly. Specs isn't as bad if its Spout is not full powered.
Mega Blaze: If it can set up, it's pretty much game. Although, it cant really set up on anything, cuz all members on my team have some way of doing something to it (Chansey can Twave, Ferro can Leech Seed + Protect). It's not as bad if it hasn't SD. In any case you do not want a full health +2 Blaze in front of you lol. And even if its like really low health I still lose -_-. Sneak does only 33-40% anyway. In any case, Blaziken is bad to face of against.
Good Players: Self Explanatory

Well that's the end of the best RMT ever you'll ever read, lol jk. I'd really appreciate help with the Mega Blaziken problem. I really enjoy using this team and I hope you guys enjoyed the RMT. Also if you see any threats that I missed, I'd be thankful if you mentioned it.

Shout Outs: All my Ubers buddies, Oh and PHP for basically editing the RMT :]

**PS: Will edit in more detail when I get time lol.

Importable
http://pastebin.com/54D7meh3

 

[Fireburn]

Yeah SpecsOgre is not kind to this team, as is Mega Blaziken (if Tina-O is weakened a bit), Sub/Psyshock GeoXern (the ones that beat Chansey), and enemy Mega Gengar if they get in on Chansey. A quick fix to these problems would be to change your Arceus type to Water and run physically defensive Ho-Oh over Kyogre - Arc-Water can come in on Specs Ogre well enough until you can weaken Spout, and physically bulky Ho-Oh beats Blaziken and Xerneas so long as SR isn't up:

Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Impish
Regenerator obvs
248 HP/252 Def/8 whatever
-Sacred Fire
-Brave Bird
-Whirlwind
-Recover

This Ho-Oh can also check Yveltal fairly well given SR isn't up.

That being said these changes will require the use of Defog, which you may not want to do since it might mess with Spikes (if you do use it probably put it on Arc and shift SR to blob) and will make you weaker to Zekrom (play well with Ferrothorn, try to hit it on the switch with Arc Wisp). I would also recommend replacing Chansey with Shed Shell Blissey to lessen the Mega Gengar weakness slower teams like this have but its your call.

I dunno how well slow Spikes stacking teams work in this metagame (probably not too well tbh) but kudos for trying it! Using Mega Gengar to trap enemy Defoggers is a neat strategy for this type of team.

 

[Hack]

This general concept of Spike-stacking is hardly outdated, but I do think Ferrothorn is rather suboptimal as a Spiker when compared to Klefki, Cloyster or even Scolipede at the moment. That's just my opinion though, from now on I'll be assessing the team on what it is, not what I think about the concept.

Ferrothorn isn't a bad mon in this metagame, but I do think this team could be restructured in a way so that you can retain a status absorber while dropping your useless Kyogre set. Rest+Toxic Ferrothorn easiliy beats Electric Arceus, which is somewhat of a threat to your team since you decided to use Thunder Wave (!?) on Chansey. It's rather easy to burn off sleep turns with this, and you also beat support Arceus much better. Idk how you handled support Arc in general before but all I'm saying is that if your Ferrothorn gets burned, you really can't outstall them and prevent Defog easily as, again I will point this out, your use Thunder Wave over Toxic on a mon that absolutely doesn't need it. Here is the set:

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rest
- Toxic
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball / Power Whip

The lack of scarfer hurts this team a lot, and it makes fast sweepers like MMY, MMX, and Darkrai able to crack up your core. The main incentive to change Ferrothorn was to retain a burn absorber so that you can change Kyogre to be your scarfer. So scarf Kyogre>current Kyogre.

Rockceus must stay as Ferrothorn (and Chansey are both big Ho-oh baits) but I'd advice you to crank up the speed to max for emergency scenarios against other support Arc and Jolly Ekiller. Move-set wise, I suggest you to use Defog over SR. Even though your team focuses on getting up a lot hazards, Defog / Spin is still needed on all teams barring Taunt suicide lead-based ones as your scarfer, Arceus and Gengar will be eaten up by Sticky Web teams in such a scenario. In situations where mutual spike-stacking arises, i.e. both teams get a lot of spikes up, I would say you are deciding the game on a biased coinflip where the factor for that bias is how hazard resilient your team is relative to your opponent (hint: your isn't very hazards resilient, you have 5 members affected by Spikes).

Even though Chansey is probably the shittiest mon ever in this meta, I won't demand a change of this mon but Toxic > t wave and SR>Heal Bell are two changes I'd make here. Heal Bell is good if you can fit it, but the general idea with Rest Ferrothorn is to burn sleep turns against things that it has toxiced/can't threaten it. Also, don't you use Bold Chansey. Calm is 100x better even though the Specs Ogre problem this team has will still be an issue.

Right now I don't really fancy the double ghost- it makes your team unnessarily vulnerable to Yveltal in general, but then again Chansey+Rockceus should kinda handle that... Giratina-O, however, could do with a more thought out EV spread and Earthquake. If you are reluctant on getting rid off SR on your Arceus, Defog is a nice filler on Giratina-O as you aren't really in need of a consistent, lasting defoger- rather just something to use vs heavy spike stack HO and stick web. 248 Defense EVs makes you always like a LO +2 Shadow Claw from E-killer after SR, just a good hint for a spread. Since Giratina-O survives one Knock Off from Blaziken, you can use that as an emergency check if you pack Earthquake. It should be pretty obvious that you don't need Stone Edge anyway, idk what your incentive of this was but you honestly have an Arceus-Rock so cmon. I would try some other mons > Gengar, but a change isn't demanded. Mega-Luke is great with hazard and Toxic support and helps a lot vs Xerneas that carry Psyshock+Focus Blast, Kanga can also wreck havoc etc. so you might wanna try something. Good luck!

 

[Megaman Zero 4]

Thanks you bring up some very valid points espicially on the stone edge when I already have Arceus-Rock lol. So with stone edge gone that gives me space for defog on Gira so i could use ho-oh over kyorge or scarf kyorge. I will try both suggestions to see which one fits me better and which is more fun to use. Thanks for the help guys :)