SM OU Mega Diancie - the Billion Dollar Pokemon

[GOATInNewYork]

What's good Smogon, I'm back with another team, this one built around another awesome Mega Pokemon I feel is underrated, Mega Diancie. I've done some battles with this team, and so far it has been pretty decent, as right now I'm sitting at a 1448 rating, which is normally pretty trash but I think isn't bad considering before I started battling with this team my rating was in the low-1000s (I let my younger cousin play on my account and my rating dropped massively lol).

TEAM:

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

Here we have the star of the team. M-Diancie is one of the best leads in the tier thanks to Magic Bounce, allowing it abuse hazard-setting leads such as Shuckle or Smeargle. And with its typing+raw power, it can scare out other common leads like Garchomp (non-scarf), Alolan Ninetales, and the dreaded Mega Sableye. Moonblast is an extremely spammable move which dents anything that doesn't resist it, thanks to M-Diancie's base 160 SpA. Diamond Storm is a secondary rock-STAB, ripping apart mons like Zapdos and Tornadus. The chance of a +2 Def boost is also super nice. Earth Power is mainly to hit steels like Heatran, Magnezone, and Mega Mawile. Finally I'm packing Stealth Rock since I usually lead with M-Diancie, and getting up Stealth Rock on the first turn is an advantage. Really, the only downside to M-Diancie is it is frail.

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt

Zone is an excellent teammate next to Diancie because it can trap and remove most of the steel-types in the tier, such as Ferrothorn and Scizor, whom otherwise destroy Diancie with steel moves. It has Choice Specs+ Max SpA so I can remove Ferrothorn before it sets up too many hazards, or remove Scizor before it can U-turn out, or remove Mega Mawile as quickly as possible. Hidden Power Fire is the move it'll use most often, since it is quadsuper-effective against Ferrothorn and Scizor. Thunderbolt and Flash Cannon provide strong STAB-moves, while Volt Switch is a pivot move if you manage to predict a switch.

Volcarona @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Volcarona acts as a late-game sweeper. With Swarm and a Focus Sash, you're guaranteed to get off an attack or a QD, and Swarm makes Bug Buzz insanely powerful if Volcarona is on low health. Quiver Dance allows you to clean up the rest of your opponent's team, while Bug Buzz acts as its main Bug STAB move. Fiery Dance is its Fire STAB, and I chose it over a move like Fire Blast since it has a chance to raise your SpA, allowing Volcarona to break walls easily, and it has 100% accuracy. Finally, there are multiple options for the last move. I chose HP Ground because without it Heatran completely walls me. However, Psychic, Giga Drain, or Hurricane are decent alternatives.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic

People look at the fact that the god Quagsire is in NU and assume its garbage. But the truth is, Quagsire can function in pretty much any tier, because of the role it plays. Unaware allows you to throw in Quagsire in front of a Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Tyranitar, or Dragonite without any worries. Opponents usually forget about Quagsire's ability, so they'll just keep setting up, but then wonder how Quagsire survived a +4 Earthquake or Thousand Arrows or Crunch, while their Pokemon slowly dies from Toxic. Scald allows Quagsire to fish for burns, allowing to be an even more durable physical wall. Earthquake gives Quagsire a powerful reliable STAB move to hit common pokemon like Gear or Tran. Recover allows it to stay healthy throughout a match and stall out mons, and Toxic allows Quagsire to defeat bulky pokemon Quicker.

Breloom @ Fist Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
- Mach Punch
- Spore

Breloom is one of my favorites from RSE, but it is also one of the best fighting-types in the tier, so thats why it has a roster spot. Technician+Fist Plate boosted STAB Mach Punch is a priority move that can easily pick off many weakened pokemon, as well as knock out frail sweepers like Ash-Greninja or Kartana. Also, access to Spore means that your opponent will be reluctant to switch anything in to Breloom, for fear of being put to sleep. Rock Tomb is for coverage against flying types like Tornadus or fire types like Volcarona trying to switch in or set up, and with Technician it hits very hard. Finally, Bullet Seed is the main Grass STAB, to take out water types and ground types.

Tornadus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

Tornadus's role is to be the hazard remover on the team and overall it is a great Utility pokemon. Hurricane is its main flying STAB move, and with Flyinium Z it gives Tornadus an option to nuke pokemon like Landorus Therian. Knock Off allows it to remove items from switch-ins like Celesteela and Zapdos. U-turn + Regenerator allows Tornadus to be an excellent pivot since it heal off any damage it might have take switching in and out of the battle. Finally, Defog is the reason that Tornadus is on the team since I need hazards off the field to support my offensive pokemon since they are frail.

Bad Matchups:

Chansey walls Volcarona, Magnezone, Mega Diancie, and can stall out Quagsire. This is why I need to run knock off on Tornadus so I can remove its Eviolite

Nothing on my team outspeeds Tapu Koko since I have no scarf users, so it can just freely launch off electric terrain boosted volt switches that can really chip away at the team. Even if Quagsire is in, Koko can just U-turn out.

Drizzle+Swift Swim rips my team apart since I have no water resists except for Breloom who is pretty frail. And even then, most rain abusers like Kingdra or Mega Swampert carry Ice Beam/Punch.

Thanks for reading, a let me know any suggestions you would want to make

Importable

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt

Volcarona @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic

Breloom @ Fist Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
- Mach Punch
- Spore

Tornadus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

​

 

[lewis1995]

Hi!
Not a full rate but I personally feel that a firium Z, Fire Blast set would be better for your volcarona. I know the +1 SpA chance is nice, but Fire Blast is a more powerful option and can be the difference between an OHKO and something living the hit. You have other item options such as Chartii berry also you can consider which will help with your rock weakness a little. Also having the Firium Z will be able to give you a nice one time nuke which will do huge damage against anything that doesn’t resist it, and it’s accuracy is obviously 100% so you don’t need to worry with Fire Blast accuracy too much. Up to you. Just my two cents :-)
Here’s the set:

Volcarona @ Firium Z
Timid Nature
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Quiver Dance
Fire Blast
Bug Buzz
Hidden Power Ground

I would also maybe have your Tornadus hold a life orb for that added power. And any damage you receive in recoil can be healed off with Regenerator.

Hope this helps

 

[Indigo Plateau]

Hey GOATInNewYork! Mega Diancie is a really good Pokemon when used right, and it's definitely a Pokemon that I enjoy using. Diancie + Volcarona can overwhelm a lot of teams that aren't prepared for it. However, your team contains some very underwhelming Pokemon that are holding it back, such as Breloom and Quagsire, so I think it could definitely use some help.

=========================

Let's first look at some threats to your team, which will make breaking it down and suggesting changes easier.

Your Water resist is Breloom, which means that Ash-Greninja is bound to do work against your team. Currently, Specs Hydro Pump OHKOes your entire team (even Breloom after a single Spike), and you have no way to outspeed it.

Although you have a Quagsire, Heatran can Toxic it on the switch and deal over 50% with its Z-Move, even though its a resisted hit. Its hard to find a dedicated counter to Heatran on a team like this, but at the very least you should be able to offensively pressure it more than you currently do.\

Because your Steel-type is Magnezone, which doesn't even outspeed, Mega Latios enjoys firing off free a free Psychic/EQ every time it comes in against your team. Tornadus-T isn't doing enough damage to beat it with Knock Off / U-turn, and Volcarona can only beat it if you keep Stealth Rock off at all times.

Psychic spam is also extremely annoying, because Magnezone gets worn down extremely easily and dies to super effective coverage from Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele, and everything else gets 2HKOed / OHKOed after a bit of prior damage.

=========================

Below are my suggestions in order to improve your team:

>

You don't really need Magnezone on your team. It's nice to trap Steel-types like Ferrothorn and Scizor for Diancie, but you don't really want to trap these because Volcarona enjoys setting up on both of them. Because of this, I think a pivot in AV Magearna is better for your team. It helps you out against Psychic-types and provides important momentum with Volt Switch to bring in the likes of Diancie / Volcarona, which can be hard to bring in at times.

>

Like I mentioned before, Breloom is unviable in OU, but luckily another Grass-type in Tapu Bulu has pretty good synergy with the rest of your team. Grassy Terrain helps weaken potential Ground-type moves for Diancie and Magearna - Magearna in particular really appreciates this, since it has no other form of recovery. Tapu Bulu also gives your team a desperately needed Water-type resist to help with Ash-Greninja and rain.

>

Lastly, I really think your team needs speed control to better deal with the likes of Tapu Koko, Mega Alakazam, and so on. Quagsire isn't good on this build whatsoever, and instead, Scarf Landorus-T gives your team a good pivot and a secondary form of hazard control in case Tornadus-T gets worn down too easily. The one downside is that you do lose out on a Fire-type resist, but that was a bit hard to fit on this team without keeping the archetype the same.

Buginium Z > Focus Sash
Focus Sash isn't a viable item outside of certain HO teams, and definitely not on Volcarona. Instead, replace it with Buginium Z to nab extra OHKOes (like Zygarde at +1) and help you sweep easier late-game.

Rocky Helmet, Superpower > U-turn
Since I gave Volcarona a Z-Move, I have to remove it from Tornadus-T. Giving it Rocky Helmet lets it punish opposing Lando-T as well as any physical attacker, making Diancie's job of breaking past opposing teams easier. Giving it max HP also lets it be a more reliable Defog user, which is needed when using Volcarona. Superpower helps with Heatran, which can be really annoying.

=========================

(click me!)

Above is the team with my suggested changes. I do believe that it is more solid than your initial version, but that's not to say that it doesn't still have its weaknesses.

is still a nuisance to switch into, so play around it aggressively with Superpower from Tapu Bulu and Torn-T.

can overwhelm Tapu Bulu, but it's a hard matchup to fix without changing the structure of the team a lot. Lastly, hazard stacking builds with

can be a bit tricky to play around, so pivot with Magearna / Lando-T as best as you can.

Hope you like the new team, lmk if you have any questions on it!