Straight outtta Kanto, the best dark team I've made so far, gotten into the 1500s with it and it's served me well. Thought I might bring it to RMT to see what some more experienced players might think.
Sableyice Cube (Sableye-Mega) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Foul Play
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
Sableyice Cube is there to magic bounce status and hazards, spread burns, knock off items, punish physical setup mons with foul play, and be a general annoyance thanks to it's defenses and reliable recovery. Not to much to explain, it's mega-sab, he's there to ruin your day, call you a bitch nigga, and steal your girl.
DJ Zilla (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
DJ Zilla is the special wall and rocks setter who can also spread paralysis, punish steel switch-ins with fire blast (primarily ferrothorn), and still hit fairly hard with stone edge even without investment. The sandstorm it sets up gives it stupid amounts of special bulk (mega diancie's moonblast isn't even a 2HKO), and the residual can be good for wearing down opponents, albeit it can be a nuisance to other team members not named Easy B or Avian Prince.
Avian Prince (Mandibuzz) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
Avian Prince is our physical wall, with insane physical bulk and not-too-bad special bulk. It serves as the team's defogger and a defensive pivot, whose slow u-turns are extremely useful in getting in other members of the team safely and gaining momentum. With overcoat protecting it from sandstorm damage, it forms an ideal defensive core with DJ Zilla, and works in tandem with Sableyice Cube to improve the matchup against bug and fighting.
Dr. Dreigon (Hydreigon) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
On to our offensive core, Dr. Dreigon is our primary special wallbreaker. It's numerous resistances and 2 immunities, on top of respectable bulk, gives it many switch-in opportunities, and with choice specs, very little can switch in on it safely. If you want, you can replace earth power with flash cannon to better deal with monofairy and the occasional monorock team, but I find earth power or Fire Blast tends to 2HKO most fairies not named Sylveon after rocks anyways. As most hydreigon do not run earth power, this can take some mons by surprise, particularly toxapex and nihilego.
Easy B (Bisharp) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
Easy B is the punisher, the executioner, insertedgymetaphorhere. Jokes aside, it's the team's primary physical powerhouse and holy hell this thing makes mons drop. It punishes opposing defog, random stat drops from moves, and the occasional sticky web thanks to defiant, and is incredibly dangerous at +2. Knock off hits the entire tier for respectable if not lethal damage and robs any non-mega/z-move mon of their item, crippling choiced mons, softening up eviolite walls (particularly ones found on normal), and robbing other walls of leftovers recovery. Sucker punch is powerful priority that can force mindgames, iron head is secondary STAB that murders fairies and has a juicy flinch chance, and pursuit is occasionally useful for trapping. Assault vest is used over life orb for the fact that with an assault vest, bisharp lives many hits it otherwise would not (a nasty surprise for many would-be special revenge-killers), most importantly avoiding a potential OHKO from mega-diancie's moonblast, who otherwise only MC Gren could check, and obliterating it in return with iron head.
MC Gren (Greninja) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
Last but certainly not least, MC Gren is the team's speed control, primary revenge killer, and a hardass g that don't give a shit 'bout the law, he's whatever type he wants, fuck the police. It's lack of power from it's stats and lack of a life orb/expert belt/choice specs is of little consequence when it gets STAB on everything and outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame. Most importantly, it outspeeds tapu koko, a common lead on electric teams, and destroys it with gunk shot. U-turn provides excellent momentum, forming a U-turn core with Avian Prince, and Ice Beam, Gunk Shot, and Hydro Pump provide valuable STAB coverage for the team. If you're really scared of volcarona or any other potentially devastating rock-weak mons, you could replace hydro pump with rock slide, but I would advise against it, as DJ Zilla already counters those threats.
As it stands right now, this team is fairly well prepared against almost all threats, though there are mons that threaten it terribly. Keldeo is one such example, being very difficult for any mon to switch into and the team lacking much in the way of good switch-ins. Sub-keldeo is even more problematic, as then it can't even be given status ailments and would force me to sack a mon to stop it at absolute best and auto-lose to it at worst. Sub-cobalion presents a similar problem, but is a bit more manageable.
Sableyice Cube (Sableye-Mega) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Foul Play
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
Sableyice Cube is there to magic bounce status and hazards, spread burns, knock off items, punish physical setup mons with foul play, and be a general annoyance thanks to it's defenses and reliable recovery. Not to much to explain, it's mega-sab, he's there to ruin your day, call you a bitch nigga, and steal your girl.
DJ Zilla (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
DJ Zilla is the special wall and rocks setter who can also spread paralysis, punish steel switch-ins with fire blast (primarily ferrothorn), and still hit fairly hard with stone edge even without investment. The sandstorm it sets up gives it stupid amounts of special bulk (mega diancie's moonblast isn't even a 2HKO), and the residual can be good for wearing down opponents, albeit it can be a nuisance to other team members not named Easy B or Avian Prince.
Avian Prince (Mandibuzz) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
Avian Prince is our physical wall, with insane physical bulk and not-too-bad special bulk. It serves as the team's defogger and a defensive pivot, whose slow u-turns are extremely useful in getting in other members of the team safely and gaining momentum. With overcoat protecting it from sandstorm damage, it forms an ideal defensive core with DJ Zilla, and works in tandem with Sableyice Cube to improve the matchup against bug and fighting.
Dr. Dreigon (Hydreigon) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
On to our offensive core, Dr. Dreigon is our primary special wallbreaker. It's numerous resistances and 2 immunities, on top of respectable bulk, gives it many switch-in opportunities, and with choice specs, very little can switch in on it safely. If you want, you can replace earth power with flash cannon to better deal with monofairy and the occasional monorock team, but I find earth power or Fire Blast tends to 2HKO most fairies not named Sylveon after rocks anyways. As most hydreigon do not run earth power, this can take some mons by surprise, particularly toxapex and nihilego.
Easy B (Bisharp) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
Easy B is the punisher, the executioner, insertedgymetaphorhere. Jokes aside, it's the team's primary physical powerhouse and holy hell this thing makes mons drop. It punishes opposing defog, random stat drops from moves, and the occasional sticky web thanks to defiant, and is incredibly dangerous at +2. Knock off hits the entire tier for respectable if not lethal damage and robs any non-mega/z-move mon of their item, crippling choiced mons, softening up eviolite walls (particularly ones found on normal), and robbing other walls of leftovers recovery. Sucker punch is powerful priority that can force mindgames, iron head is secondary STAB that murders fairies and has a juicy flinch chance, and pursuit is occasionally useful for trapping. Assault vest is used over life orb for the fact that with an assault vest, bisharp lives many hits it otherwise would not (a nasty surprise for many would-be special revenge-killers), most importantly avoiding a potential OHKO from mega-diancie's moonblast, who otherwise only MC Gren could check, and obliterating it in return with iron head.
MC Gren (Greninja) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
Last but certainly not least, MC Gren is the team's speed control, primary revenge killer, and a hardass g that don't give a shit 'bout the law, he's whatever type he wants, fuck the police. It's lack of power from it's stats and lack of a life orb/expert belt/choice specs is of little consequence when it gets STAB on everything and outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame. Most importantly, it outspeeds tapu koko, a common lead on electric teams, and destroys it with gunk shot. U-turn provides excellent momentum, forming a U-turn core with Avian Prince, and Ice Beam, Gunk Shot, and Hydro Pump provide valuable STAB coverage for the team. If you're really scared of volcarona or any other potentially devastating rock-weak mons, you could replace hydro pump with rock slide, but I would advise against it, as DJ Zilla already counters those threats.
As it stands right now, this team is fairly well prepared against almost all threats, though there are mons that threaten it terribly. Keldeo is one such example, being very difficult for any mon to switch into and the team lacking much in the way of good switch-ins. Sub-keldeo is even more problematic, as then it can't even be given status ailments and would force me to sack a mon to stop it at absolute best and auto-lose to it at worst. Sub-cobalion presents a similar problem, but is a bit more manageable.