SM OU Jab Jab POW (Volt-Turn Balance) (peak 1821)

[Triangl]

Jab Jab POW (Volt-Turn Balance) (peak 1821)

Introduction
Here's a fun balance team I made for the ladder. "Jab Jab" refers to pretty much everything that chips away at the other team (Volt-Volt-Turn with Ferro and Heatran to tank hits), and "POW" refers to Mega Medicham's HJK/etc and sometimes Tapu Koko to clean late game. I've noticed that this team is notably weak to stall w/Mega Sableye (once Koko dies), scarf Victini, and Hawlucha (esp. Electric Seed). Zygarde is also scary if not played carefully around.

Teambuilding Process

spoiler

This team has changed many times as I spent more time laddering, but I'll explain why I put various mons on it here.

My favorite ORAS team ran Mega-Mane + Lando-T Volt-Turn, so I tried again this time w/Tapu Koko because I love Volt-Turn. Then I added Mega-Medicham because I simply LOVE the thrill of kicking Hi Jump Kick.

I had Kartana, Greninja-Ash, and Toxapex as the last 3 at first but I slowly realized that HO + Toxapex killing my momentum every other turn would not cut it. I didn't mean to converge to Fire-Water-Grass, but it happened. I added Ferro/Rotom-W for rain teams (plus Rotom-W checks Lando-T hard), and Heatran because it's just good.

Honestly, I don't have that much to say here because the team just kind of formed as I experimented with it on the ladder.

The Team

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Scarf Lando-T provides some speed control. Earthquake is obviously necessary, U-turn is for momentum, Stone Edge is for Volcarona and occasionally catching Zapdos on the switch, and I added Knock Off mostly for Trick Room teams, so that my team stands some chance against those.

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam

I've tried Zap Plate, Wise Glasses, etc. (should I try Life Orb?), but I like Specs just because it hits so hard. Volt Switch guaranteed OHKO's Kartana after rocks, and without specs I pretty much stand no chance against Mega Sableye stall. HP Ice over HP Fire because I already have Rotom-W for Scizor and Mega Medi for Ferrothorn, and its nice to catch Landorus every once in a while.

Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt

Mega Medicham is on this team to come in and KICK KICK KICK. HJK + Ice Punch kills offensive Landos and Defensive Landos have limited switch ins. Zapdos also dies after some chip damage + rocks. Ferrothorn, Chansey, Heatran, Tyranitar and just a bunch of mons give Medicham free HJK's that are guaranteed to do good damage even if resisted. Importantly, it also kills Bulu after some Volt-Turn chip. This is the team's main answer to Zygarde (it usually lives a +1 Thousand Arrows from full).

Rotom-Wash @ Waterium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Defog
- Pain Split

Rotom-W is my immediate switch-in to Lando-T, Toxapex, Mamoswine, and Mega Swampert. Waterium Z is mostly here to OHKO Lando-T and Mega Swampert (after some chip), and beat Scizor 1v1 (Hydro + Hydro-Z kills). It usually gets free defogs due to how common some of the mons it beats are. Pain Split is for longevity (especially since people love switching in Chansey on Rotom-W). I have considered switching Rotom-W out with Zapdos for an answer to Hawlucha, but I'm not sure about it just yet. (Putting Defog on Zapdos means I can't run both Heat Wave and HP Ice, both of which I need)

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

Ferrothorn is here to get up rocks, beat rain, and eat hits. It's a good pivot to dodge Leech Seed/Toxic so I can get free switches to Mega Medicham or Heatran. People on the ladder don't seem to expect two attacks, so sometimes it gets free kills on Bulu or Greninja. It's also the team's main answer for Mimikyu.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Earth Power

Spdef Heatran is good for Zapdos and especially Thundurus-T, both of which wall the majority of my team. It's good for walling certain mons (Ninetails-A, Ferrothorn) and spreading Toxic/Lava Plume burns on the switch. It's also one of my only ways to beat Hawlucha (LOL), by Toxicing on the SD and protecting on the HJK. Protect also is good for scouting for moves and choice items, notably on Greninja-Ash and Tapu Lele.

Conclusion
Despite its weaknesses to common stuff like seed Lucha, M-Sableye stall, and trick room, this team still fares pretty well on the ladder. Its strong presence against rain, most HO (bar scarf Victini, that thing is scary), and stall w/o M-Sableye, among many other team archetypes, as well as its ability to beat the teams that match up well against it (through some aggressive play to prevent free switches and getting hard hits of my own in). The team is focused around being able to hit hard without having to set up and whittling teams down until Medi or Koko can pick them off, and keeping up momentum with the Volt-Turn core.

Sorry if this analysis isn't that great--there are probably a lot of things I'm missing because this team is mostly the result of experimentation and trying what works. Thanks for reading--suggestions would be highly appreciated! c:

Importable

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam

Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt

Rotom-Wash @ Waterium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Defog
- Pain Split

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Earth Power

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

 

[Relyxs]

Defensive scarf Lando-T with hp ice is the only scarf Lando-T set. This would help you beat Hawlucha a lot better.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
Here is a better Ferro set to help check Koko better(You're a bit weak to it.)

 

[Meliodafu7]

I feel this team is really weak against stall to be honest, especially those which carries a Unaware Quagsire, because Choice Specs Koko isn't a stallbreaker, so my suggestion for this team is

1.- Make a offensive Heatran with Firium Z or Grondium Z. This gives you a good stallbreaker who can pressure a lot M-Sableye, Chansey and Toxapex, its common switch-ins in stall.

Heatran @ Firium Z / Grondium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Toxic / Stealth Rock
- Taunt
If you run Stealth Rock, you can run spikes Ferrothorn, which is great in this VoltTurn teams.

2.- Give a Iapapa berry or lefties for rotom-w. Waterium is a waste on it, especially if Heatran can do a better job with a Z-move.

That's all, good luck :D

 

[MFJK]

Hey, that's a cool team you got there. Although I like the team and it's concept with volt-turn in general being pretty solid, this team has some quite scary weaknesses against some metagame threats. Some include Kartana and Grass Spam teams, opposing M-Medicham, Zygarde and Heatran but aren't limited to them. The team also presents some major issues in the way it's built, with it lacking of a real physical sponge for the likes of M-Medicham, of a reliable way to handle Heatran, and the team's ground resistances being hp ice-less scarf lando-t and rotom-wash (which is also sort of a momentum suck, not being able to take hits reliably while not even hitting that hard).

~~

->

- As a first change, I'd suggest you Mew > Rotom-Wash. This change is mainly there to cover your huge weakness to physical attackers such as M-Medicham, Kartana, Landorus-T and Zygarde, while not losing the ability to remove hazards with Defog. Mew is overall a more solid and durable defogger that can take strong hits and cripple mons with will-o-wisp. I'd advise you to run Earth Power to also serve as a Heatran answer which your team desperately needed. While this means that you can't take on ground types as reliably, wisping them will already ensure they can't hit mew too hard and as you will see, some of the changes below will help to better handle those.

• 
  : While Specs Koko is a very good set, I feel Koko will need more flexibility on this team and not be as much prediction-reliant. For this reason, I'd change Koko's set to Shuca Berry which will give it the freedom to switch up moves, but will also allow it to check ground types much better. A 104 HP / 12 Def / 176 SpA / 216 Spe will ensure it can take on Zygarde as well as outspeeding Weavile. It's also slower than most other kokos which means that you'll volt switch after them and get momentum.
• 
  : I'd suggest you to change your Ferro's moveset to Power Whip | Stealth Rock | Leech Seed | Thunder Wave or Knock Off, with a 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD Careful spread and a Iapapa Berry as it's item of choice. Now, this set might seem a little weird (esp with twave and Iapapa berry which are both unconventional options) but I think it really fits perfectly with this team. Twave helps Ferrothorn to cripple Kartana as well as other fast mons which can be incredibly useful for M-Medicham, and also somewhat reduces the team's weakness to Volcarona. However, Knock Off is still an option to cripple mons like Celesteela, opposing ferros and mew if you wish to stay standard. As for Iapapa Berry, it makes Ferrothorn a more durable check to many mons including Ash-Gren and physical attackers like Lando-T and Zygarde alongside Leech Seed, which is really needed on this team.
• 
  : I'd change your Heatran moveset to Magma Storm | Earth Power | Taunt | Toxic, with a 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid spread with Firium Z which I think is pretty important in order to match-up better against fatter teams and especially lure and eliminate M-Sableye which is huge for M-Medicham. The only real downside to this change is the loss of a solid check to Lele which can be taken on by Mew + Ferro anyways.
• 
  : Lastly, I'd slightly change your Landorus-T's moveset by doing Hidden Power [Ice] > Knock Off in order to hit opposing ground types and change it's spread to 240 Spe / 72 Def / 196 Spe Jolly which takes on physical attackers such as Kartana and Zygarde better and still outspeeds M-Alakazam.

~~

Importable

 

[Triangl]

Defensive scarf Lando-T with hp ice is the only scarf Lando-T set. This would help you beat Hawlucha a lot better.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
Here is a better Ferro set to help check Koko better(You're a bit weak to it.)

Thanks for the suggs. I'll try HP Ice and I agree my attack investment doesn't seem to be playing a key role in most of my games. SpD ferro might also be good in conjunction with the Firium Z Heatran set suggested down below.

I feel this team is really weak against stall to be honest, especially those which carries a Unaware Quagsire, because Choice Specs Koko isn't a stallbreaker, so my suggestion for this team is

1.- Make a offensive Heatran with Firium Z or Grondium Z. This gives you a good stallbreaker who can pressure a lot M-Sableye, Chansey and Toxapex, its common switch-ins in stall.

Heatran @ Firium Z / Grondium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Toxic / Stealth Rock
- Taunt
If you run Stealth Rock, you can run spikes Ferrothorn, which is great in this VoltTurn teams.

2.- Give a Iapapa berry or lefties for rotom-w. Waterium is a waste on it, especially if Heatran can do a better job with a Z-move.

That's all, good luck :D

I feel like I can usually deal w/Quag with my Medicham and Ferrothorn, but I agree I really need a sableye counter. Trapping chansey and pex is pretty alluring as well so I might as well try it xD

Could you explain why spikes is good for VoltTurn? As of now, I'm scared to run spikes though because I only have a defogger, not a spinner--the opposing team can more easily pressure my volt-turn core by getting up spikes of their own (I'm not too weak to SR, but spikes would hurt a lot).

I also like WaterZ for its ability to OHKO lando and even tapu koko & M-Swampert (with some spatk investment). But I do agree my Z could be placed a little bit better.

Thanks so much for the suggestions, can't wait to try them out! :>

Hey, that's a cool team you got there. Although I like the team and it's concept with volt-turn in general being pretty solid, this team has some quite scary weaknesses against some metagame threats. Some include Kartana and Grass Spam teams, opposing M-Medicham, Zygarde and Heatran but aren't limited to them. The team also presents some major issues in the way it's built, with it lacking of a real physical sponge for the likes of M-Medicham, of a reliable way to handle Heatran, and the team's ground resistances being hp ice-less scarf lando-t and rotom-wash (which is also sort of a momentum suck, not being able to take hits reliably while not even hitting that hard).

~~

->

- As a first change, I'd suggest you Mew > Rotom-Wash. This change is mainly there to cover your huge weakness to physical attackers such as M-Medicham, Kartana, Landorus-T and Zygarde, while not losing the ability to remove hazards with Defog. Mew is overall a more solid and durable defogger that can take strong hits and cripple mons with will-o-wisp. I'd advise you to run Earth Power to also serve as a Heatran answer which your team desperately needed. While this means that you can't take on ground types as reliably, wisping them will already ensure they can't hit mew to hard and this issue is gonna be covered with further tweaks.

• 
  : While Specs Koko is a very good set, I feel Koko will need more flexibility on this team and not be as much prediction-reliant. For this reason, I'd change Koko's set to Shuca Berry which will give it the freedom to switch up moves, but will also allow it to check ground types much better. A 104 HP / 12 Def / 176 SpA / 216 Spe will ensure it can take on Zygarde as well as outspeeding Weavile. It's also slower than most other kokos which means that you'll volt switch after them and get momentum.
• 
  : I'd suggest you to change your Ferro's moveset to Power Whip | Stealth Rock | Leech Seed | Thunder Wave or Knock Off, with a 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD Careful spread and a Iapapa Berry as it's item of choice. Now, this set might seem a little weird (esp with twave and Iapapa berry which are both unconventional options) but I think it really fits perfectly with this team. Twave helps Ferrothorn to cripple Kartana as well as other fast mons which can be incredibly useful for M-Medicham, and also somewhat reduces the team's weakness to Volcarona. However, Knock Off is still an option to cripple mons like Celesteela, opposing ferros and mew if you wish to stay standard. As for Iapapa Berry, it makes Ferrothorn a more durable check to many mons including Ash-Gren and physical attackers like Lando-T and Zygarde alongside Leech Seed, which is really needed on this team.
• 
  : I'd change your Heatran moveset to Magma Storm | Earth Power | Taunt | Toxic, with a 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid spread with Firium Z which I think is pretty important in order to match-up better against fatter teams and especially lure and eliminate M-Sableye which is huge for M-Medicham. The only real downside to this change is the loss of a solid check to Lele which can be taken in by Mew + Ferro anyways.
• 
  : Lastly, I'd slightly change your Landorus-T's moveset by doing Hidden Power [Ice] > Knock Off in order to hit opposing ground types and change it's spread to 240 Spe / 72 Def / 196 Spe Jolly which takes on physical attackers such as Kartana and Zygarde better and still outspeeds M-Alakazam.

~~

Importable

Aye thanks so much for these detailed suggestions!!

For the mew replacement, I wonder if this makes me a bit weak to rain teams? (Rotom-W is my main counter to M-Swampert) I guess this could be a decent trade-off though, as Mew seems to fill in a lot of holes in my team. But maybe I could run Will-O-Wisp instead of Pain split on my rotom instead? I will definitely try Mew out first though to see how it plays out :)

I'm liking the idea of running T-wave on Ferrothorn simply because T-wave is broken asf LOL. I'll try both though because that 90% accuracy is a bit unsettling, especially for someone as slow as ferro. I like the shuca set for koko and the idea of getting slow volts on other kokos so I'll definitely try that out.

Again, thanks for the suggs! I might as well try out your importable to see how it goes LOL so I'll probably reply again if I notice anything.