ORAS OU Mega Diancie // Volt-Turn-Pass Momentum Team

[m0xx]

Hello Smogon friends!
Today I present you the best team I have built so far.
It is what I would call a hyper momentum team.

High Risk - High Reward
Hyper momentum means Volt Switches, U-Turn and Baton Passes everywhere.
All it takes is decent prediction skills and the ladder is yours.
First of all a quick team preview:

Importable: http://textuploader.com/w93w

This team looks odd, yes. But why is it still such a strong one to hit the ladder with?
Let's have a closer look at the mons.

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1. Mega Diancie [Elisabeth III]

Elisabeth III (Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Protect

Mega Diancie is one of the strongest mega-sweepers in the meta.
With its non-mega bulk, it can easily switch into lots of pokemon to kill them or to force a switch.
Diancie does need Protect due to its 50 base speed when not mega-evolved.
With Moonblast and Diamond Storm as two very powerful STABS, all it needs is Earth Power to hit Poison and Steel Types. As a mega it gets the Magic Bounce ability which can prevent status on your other team members and shuts down some Stealth Rockers. You do not need HP Fire, because the next team member shuts down Scizor and Ferrothorn completely.

For those who still question Mega Diancies Strength:
It has a 92% chance to OHKO Full HP Garchomp with Mooblast.
________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Magnezone [E.T.]

E.T. (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs/Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 132 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 128 Spe [if scarfed, timid max speed]
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Magnezone is Mega Diancies best friend. With its Magnet Pull Ability it traps Steel Types like Scizor, Ferrothorn and Skarmory, with which Diancie struggles. On of the few Pokemon that can switch into any attack from Mega Diancie and immediately threaten it is Scizor. Inexperienced players get trapped by Zone not knowing what it does, while good players will almost never go for Bullet Punch on Diancie as long as Magnezone is alive. 128 Speed EVs let you outspeed uninvested Mega Scizor before it U-Turns out.
- T-Bolt and Flash Cannon as strong STAB moves
- Volt Switch is STAB and gives you fast and slow switches, which help you gain momentum.

Choice Specs or Scarf?
Choice Specs secure important OHKOs:
100% chance to OHKO bulky Mega Scizor
100% chance to OHKO defensive Ferrothorn, 66% if specially defensive
100% chance to OHKO Mega Gardevoir
Choice Scarf gives you fast Volt Switches and late game sweep potential

________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Scolipede (Can't touch this)

Can't touch this (Scolipede) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe (if Swords Dance: 44 Spe 208 HP and Adamant)
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Baton Pass/ Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Megahorn

The Truth is: I love Scolipede.
1. it has great coverage
2. with Swords Dance it is a great late game sweeper
3. Baton Pass gives you momentum and potential speed passes into Magnezone, Rotom or Diancie
4. Your opponent is likely to lead with a fire type, because many people on the lower ladder lead Scoli-
pede to get crazy Baton Passes happening -> Rotom is a free lead.

Scolipede might not seem to be the best Pokemon on this team, but in practice it performs very well. And that is what is comes down to in the end.

________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Forretress (Milhouse)

Milhouse (Forretress) @ Copa Berry/Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy/Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes/Spikes

Foretress is the perfect hazard control Pokemon for this team. Reasons are as follows:
- Spin, Rocks, Spikes and Toxic Spikes on one Pokemon
- Switches in on so many physical mons and sets up on them
- people on the ladder expect you to lead with him, so they will bring their fire types.
---> Together with Scolipede guaranteed Fire lead on your opponents side
---> Free Rotom lead to Volt Switch and gain momentum right away.
Sturdy to and Copa Berry to secure a Spin and one layer of your own hazards.
Overcoat to switch in on Venusaur and Breloom and get up hazards.

Moves:
- Stealth Rocks: a must have- weakens fire types that this team struggles with
- Volt Switch: gives you slow Switches -> no damage taken upon entry -> so much momentum
- Rapid Spin: A Volt-Turn team needs Rapid Spin support in order for you to switch around freely.
- Spikes/Toxic Spikes: wear down you opponent even more - choose as you prefer

________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Rotom (Night Wash)

NightWash (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

The defensive centre of this team.
- due to Scolipede and Foretress a safe lead in 90% of the cases.
- extremely bulky
- deals with fire types that threaten the rest of the team

I use the regular moveset for Rotom, because it has shown to work and does not fail its role.

________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Tornadus-T (Incredible Bulk)

Incredible Bulk (Tornadus-Therian) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Heat Wave
- U-turn

Tornadus is a momentum machine in itself. It switches into nearly any Special attack and forces switches, which it can predict and gain momentum with U-Turn. Regenrator heals him back up upon switch-in.
He needs full speed for mons that outspeed Diancie and fast U-Turns.
Hurricane is risky but hits very hard and you can afford the miss due to Regenerator.
Knock off gets rid of annoying items like Scarfs, Eviolites and Rocky Helmets. It also has a chance to kill Starmie in combination with a U-Turn.
Hidden Power Ice seems odd at first and it definately is. But this is my only way of dealing with Gliscor, who absolutely destroys my entire team. It also catches things like Dnite, Landorous, Chomp and Altaria of Guard, but it mailny prevents me from getting swept by Gliscor.

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Common Threats:
Charizard X

Suicune

Gliscor

Please add important Counters in the comments. Thank You =)

References:
This one is a perfect example for how effective hyper momentum can be if used correctly.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-240507455

Instead of showing you only the good sides of this team, i want to show you its biggest weakness:
Suicune. If you don't predict the suicune switch-in perfectly, you loose to it. Its that simple. Or you crit him last turn... just sayin.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-240849884




Thank you for reading this post and I highly suggest you try out this team. It might seem a little weird at first sight, but it performes sooo well in the current metagame. I hope you are having fun with this team and leave suggestions on how to deal better with setup mons liek Zard x, Suicune and Gliscor.

Cya,
m0xx

 

[WilliXL]

First of all, I really like the momentum that your team can build up with its pivoting to really whittle the opponent down.

Looking through your replays, I just want to quickly point out that Thunderbolt deals more damage than HP Fire against Skarmories. So keep that in mind, if a Skarmory is weakened already, a Thunderbolt will OHKO whereas HP Fire COULD potentially leave it alive.

I have no comment for your Diancie. It's a very standard, very effective set.

For Magnezone, I'd recommend running Specs. The added damage to Volt Switches will help since most likely you'll be pivoting out of predicted switches. As for the late game sweeping potential, the quick pass from Scolipede should solve your speed problem. So Specs > Scarf.

Because of quick passing, Scolipede should definitely run Baton Pass. It allows you to scout and switch on predicted switches and allows you to pass speed to either Diancie or Magnezone. Make sure that you prioritize who your sweepers really are. Any priority could kill Scolipede easily, so it's not the best sweeper, so don't make it one. Its role should be to pass speed and have a couple coverage moves.

As for Forretress, I'm a little torn about this one. You don't need too much hazard for this team or hazard control for this team. If you can play Mega Diancie correctly, you can easily bounce back hazards and opponents will be wary of putting hazards down in the first place. So I think you should actually invest in a Physical attacker in this slot, since your team is a little lacking on the physical side. Aside from Scolipede, who doesn't have really high Attack, all of your other mons are Special oriented. Maybe you should try Scarfed Excadrill? That would give you a nice counter to opposing Mega Diancies as well. You don't seem to have a solid counter if you came up against a mirror match.
You could also potentially try Thundurus. That would shut down CroCune and Gliscor. It would also put a stop to DD Mega Char X.

Rotom-W is perfect for this team. And the set should work just fine. You're missing 4 EVs on your Rotom-W btw, not that it really matters.

As for Tornadus. If you decide to use Thundurus, use Heatwave, otherwise HP Ice is a nice surprise. Lol.


Good luck

 

[m0xx]

First of all, I really like the momentum that your team can build up with its pivoting to really whittle the opponent down.

Looking through your replays, I just want to quickly point out that Thunderbolt deals more damage than HP Fire against Skarmories. So keep that in mind, if a Skarmory is weakened already, a Thunderbolt will OHKO whereas HP Fire COULD potentially leave it alive.

I have no comment for your Diancie. It's a very standard, very effective set.

For Magnezone, I'd recommend running Specs. The added damage to Volt Switches will help since most likely you'll be pivoting out of predicted switches. As for the late game sweeping potential, the quick pass from Scolipede should solve your speed problem. So Specs > Scarf.

Because of quick passing, Scolipede should definitely run Baton Pass. It allows you to scout and switch on predicted switches and allows you to pass speed to either Diancie or Magnezone. Make sure that you prioritize who your sweepers really are. Any priority could kill Scolipede easily, so it's not the best sweeper, so don't make it one. Its role should be to pass speed and have a couple coverage moves.

As for Forretress, I'm a little torn about this one. You don't need too much hazard for this team or hazard control for this team. If you can play Mega Diancie correctly, you can easily bounce back hazards and opponents will be wary of putting hazards down in the first place. So I think you should actually invest in a Physical attacker in this slot, since your team is a little lacking on the physical side. Aside from Scolipede, who doesn't have really high Attack, all of your other mons are Special oriented. Maybe you should try Scarfed Excadrill? That would give you a nice counter to opposing Mega Diancies as well. You don't seem to have a solid counter if you came up against a mirror match.
You could also potentially try Thundurus. That would shut down CroCune and Gliscor. It would also put a stop to DD Mega Char X.

Rotom-W is perfect for this team. And the set should work just fine. You're missing 4 EVs on your Rotom-W btw, not that it really matters.

As for Tornadus. If you decide to use Thundurus, use Heatwave, otherwise HP Ice is a nice surprise. Lol.


Good luck

Thanks for your comment!
Yes, I made the mistake of using hp fire against Skarmory for a long time. When I realised, I definately laughed hard :D
As for Scolipede, i think you are right. Especially when using Excadrill, i can teach scolipede spikes/toxic spikes over eq.
I really like your recommended changes, I will certainly test it out.

Greetings

 

[WilliXL]

Thanks for your comment!
Yes, I made the mistake of using hp fire against Skarmory for a long time. When I realised, I definately laughed hard :D
As for Scolipede, i think you are right. Especially when using Excadrill, i can teach scolipede spikes/toxic spikes over eq.
I really like your recommended changes, I will certainly test it out.

Greetings

Sorry to bother you so quickly.

Please reply once you've tested things out. I'm busy building teams and am currently interning at an engineering program, so I don't have time to import your team and play it for myself. So please reply with what you find. I'm curious to hear!

 

[m0xx]

Sorry to bother you so quickly.

Please reply once you've tested things out. I'm busy building teams and am currently interning at an engineering program, so I don't have time to import your team and play it for myself. So please reply with what you find. I'm curious to hear!

I have tested a lot of things on this team and made some important changes! I think is is way better than before.
1. I changed Scolipedes Moveset and Nature.
To make Scolipede more of a speed passer than a sweeper, i tried Spikes and Protect instead of Megahorn and Earthquake and gave him hp evs instead of atk.
What actually happened is that i lost momentum instead of winning it, due to me being forced to Protect and making myself very predictable. It also didnt quite have the bulk to perform well as a speed passer and not the damage to kill things.
I found that I needed him to finish off weakened enemies and Baton Pass out when they bring out their counter after this.
In the end, I came up with the following set:

Can't touch this (Scolipede) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Baton Pass
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Protect

This set combines both. Adamant Scolipede is so strong! It OHKOs so many fairy types and also has a chance to OHKO Mega Charizard X with its Earthquake, which is such a big threat to this team.
Still it can Protect and Baton Pass into Zone or Diancie to get late game sweeps or just use it for momentum.

2. I replaced Foretress with Donphan.
I tried out different sets for Excadrill, wich you recommended. The scarf variant added a lot of offensive pressure and helped me against fairies, that Scolipede couldnt kill anymore due to its lower Atk at this time.
Still i felt like i needed a reliable Rapid Spin without locking himself into the move, to allow me to freely switch my mons in and out.
So I needed a mon that could
- counter Mega Diancie and Mega Altaria
- use Rapid Spin reliably
- Take Pressure of Rotom, which is a check to Garchomp, Lando and Azumarill, but not to 2 or 3 of them on one team
- come in on strong hits, if a risky u-turn or votl switch goes wrong
- deal with fire types, that my team is still weak to

Well, here it is:
Donphan @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off/Stone Edge

Assault Vest Donphan works SO well! I havent figured out the perfect Speed and SpDef spreads yet, but it really enhances the team.
Ice Shard + Rapid Spin completely shut down lead garchomp as well as 2HKO Scarf Lando after the Intimidate -> helps Rotom
I am still debating between Knock off and Stone Edge, which are both very good. I use Knock off at the moment, because Latios, SLowbro and Starmie like to switch in on Donphan.


I also gave Magnezone enough Defense EVs to always live a Superpower from an offensive Mega Scizor, which you will see in the replay.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-244089127

The changes work perfectly so far, allthough I am very low on the ladder right now due to the testing i did. (1200)
I will see if it performs as well in the 1300s and 1400s.

Here is the new Team with all the changes:
http://pastebin.com/FuKP5ZrE

Thank you for your suggestions, especially to replace Foretress!
I hope you find the time soon to play the team.
Let me know when you have additional suggestions.

Greetings

 

[WilliXL]

I have tested a lot of things on this team and made some important changes! I think is is way better than before.
1. I changed Scolipedes Moveset and Nature.
To make Scolipede more of a speed passer than a sweeper, i tried Spikes and Protect instead of Megahorn and Earthquake and gave him hp evs instead of atk.
What actually happened is that i lost momentum instead of winning it, due to me being forced to Protect and making myself very predictable. It also didnt quite have the bulk to perform well as a speed passer and not the damage to kill things.
I found that I needed him to finish off weakened enemies and Baton Pass out when they bring out their counter after this.
In the end, I came up with the following set:

Can't touch this (Scolipede) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Baton Pass
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Protect

This set combines both. Adamant Scolipede is so strong! It OHKOs so many fairy types and also has a chance to OHKO Mega Charizard X with its Earthquake, which is such a big threat to this team.
Still it can Protect and Baton Pass into Zone or Diancie to get late game sweeps or just use it for momentum.

2. I replaced Foretress with Donphan.
I tried out different sets for Excadrill, wich you recommended. The scarf variant added a lot of offensive pressure and helped me against fairies, that Scolipede couldnt kill anymore due to its lower Atk at this time.
Still i felt like i needed a reliable Rapid Spin without locking himself into the move, to allow me to freely switch my mons in and out.
So I needed a mon that could
- counter Mega Diancie and Mega Altaria
- use Rapid Spin reliably
- Take Pressure of Rotom, which is a check to Garchomp, Lando and Azumarill, but not to 2 or 3 of them on one team
- come in on strong hits, if a risky u-turn or votl switch goes wrong
- deal with fire types, that my team is still weak to

Well, here it is:
Donphan @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off/Stone Edge

Assault Vest Donphan works SO well! I havent figured out the perfect Speed and SpDef spreads yet, but it really enhances the team.
Ice Shard + Rapid Spin completely shut down lead garchomp as well as 2HKO Scarf Lando after the Intimidate -> helps Rotom
I am still debating between Knock off and Stone Edge, which are both very good. I use Knock off at the moment, because Latios, SLowbro and Starmie like to switch in on Donphan.


I also gave Magnezone enough Defense EVs to always live a Superpower from an offensive Mega Scizor, which you will see in the replay.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-244089127

The changes work perfectly so far, allthough I am very low on the ladder right now due to the testing i did. (1200)
I will see if it performs as well in the 1300s and 1400s.

Here is the new Team with all the changes:
http://pastebin.com/FuKP5ZrE

Thank you for your suggestions, especially to replace Foretress!
I hope you find the time soon to play the team.
Let me know when you have additional suggestions.

Greetings

Yeah, I like the change of Scolipede. I think Poison Jab is very useful for you and much more reliable than Megahorn. Bug doesn't hit much anyways.

For Donphan, I would actually change its ability to Sturdy. I don't think your team really has any problems against Sand Teams, so I don't think Sand Veil is all that necessary.
Also, Knock Off over Stone Edge. You already have a lot of coverage against the things that Stone Edge hits and Knock Off is just an amazing move overall in competitive battling.

However, the only problem I see with your team now is lack of Hazards. I don't know if you even need Hazards as your a very momentum based team and the act of setting up Hazards could slow your momentum down right away. Though I would still consider it. Maybe just get rid of Earthquake on Donphan (though I personally wouldn't do this) since you already have 2 other Pokes with Ground Type moves. And if you were to get SR, then switch the item to Leftovers. Not sure though. The main reason I use Hazards is to break Focus Sashes to get clean sweeps. However, your team doesn't really seem to need such a thing.

 

[Treeckoinsurance]

Quick comment since I'm on my phone, first off, really like this team. Gaining momentum has become a key aspect to battling in Oras and you have the moms to do it. My suggestion is to try one of these four mons instead of donphan.

1.) lando t or garchomp. Both can run offensive stealth rock sets to keep pressure on spinners and add another physical attacker to your team.

Or

2.) custap skarm or forretress. On my HO momentum teams, these two guys work like a charm setting up hazards early so your HO team has an easier job of sweeping. Forretress gets a special mention for being able to rapid spin with custap against an opposing lead.

If you want I'll post the sets later.

Again solid team