Mega Manectric's Wrath!

[NinjasOnIce]

Hello there Smogon team raters! I have decided to share my pokebank doubles team with you guys! I have had a lot of success using this team, and I wanted to get your guys' opinions on how it is. *Red Text = Changes to the team*
The Team:

Manectric @Manectite
Trait: Lightningrod/Intimidate
Timid Nature
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Spe 4 Hp
-Thunderbolt
-Overheat
-Hp Ice
-Protect

Mega Manectric has to be the star of this team. He is so good in doubles! Not only does he get lightningrod, which lets him absorb ANY electric type move and get a SpAtk boost, but when he Mega evolves, he gets intimidate, which is an incredibly effective ability, as it weakens physical attackers by one stage. The moveset is pretty standard, Tbolt is a very strong Stab move, especially after a lightningrod boost. Usually, I don't mega evolve until after I get a +1 boost with lightningrod. Overheat gives it good coverage against steel types such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, Metagross, etc. Finally, Hp ice hits threats such as Landorus and Garchomp, who would otherwise wall this set if I didnt run hp ice. Protect is standard for doubles, I usually use it to scout out what threats to this pokemon are gonna do. This set has worked wonders for me, however, scarfed garchomp will really wreck manectric without tailwind support.

Synergy:

Ground Types: Rotom, Hydreigon, Togekiss

Rotom-Wash @Assault Vest
Trait: Levitate
Modest Nature
EVs: 240 Hp 252 SAtk 16 SpD
-Hydro Pump
-Discharge
-Hidden Power Grass
-Electroweb

Rotom wash is the perfect partner for Manectric. This dynamic duo has caused me to literally sweep teams with mega manectric. Assault vest adds additional bulk so it can take a solarbeam from charizard Y. This set works incredibly well in conjunction with manectric because I can fire off a discharge, which boosts manectric's spatk AND hits both opponents. After that, I like to mega evolve and wreck havoc. Hydro Pump is A powerful STAB move that can hit troublesome fire types such as heatran. Hidden Power Grass will hit and most likely OHKO pokemon such as gastrodon, swampert, and quagsire. Electroweb is an additional STAB move with the additional benefit of lowering the target's speed.
Synergy:

Grass Types: Hydreigon, Togekiss, Metagross

Togekiss @Sitrus Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
Calm Nature
EVs: 252 Hp 252 SpDef 4 SpA
-Follow Me
-Air Slash
-Dazzling Gleam
-Tailwind

Togekiss was already a great pokemon in past generations, but it got even better in gen 6 with its fairy typing. I mainly use Togekiss as tailwind support for manectric, since choice scarf garchomp is perhaps one of the only things that stops manectric from sweeping. Follow Me is pretty standard for this thing to have. Troublesome priority users won't be hitting any of my stong, frail sweepers as long as this guy is around. Airslash is standard as well. It is a nice STAB move to have to hit grass types and fighting types. Finally, Dazzling Gleam serves as a nice STAB spread move to hit multiple targets. I wanted to use this move over roost or protect mainly for the benefit of hitting 2 targets at once.

Synergy:

Electric Types: Hydreigon, Manectric
Poison Types: Metagross
Rock Types: Metagross, Scrafty
Steel Types: Metagross, Rotom, Manectric
Ice Types: Rotom, Metagross

Metagross Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 Hp 252 Atk 4 Spe
-Bullet Punch
-Meteor Mash
-Zen Headbutt
-Protect

Metagross is a great pokemon in doubles. He is the Fairy Killer of this team. I found that he has great synergy with togekiss and rotom. He takes the steel and poison type attacks for togekiss, and the grass type attacks for rotom. Bullet punch serves as priority for metagross as he is pretty slow. Now that steel is super effective on fairy types he is a very big threat. Meteor mash is a powerful STAB move that will OHKO just about any fairy type that it wants to hit. Zen headbutt hits fighting types such as conkeldurr and hitmontop hard, as airslash from togekiss will most likely not do very much. It also hits other notable poison type threats such as amoonguss. For my item, I decided to go with the lum berry. I found myself being hit with status moves such as will-o-wisp all too often whenever metagross is on the field. If I want to scout to see what the other person wants to do, I can use protect.

Synergy:

Fire Types: Hydreigon, Rotom
Dark Types: Togekiss, Hydreigon, Scrafty
Ground Types: Hydreigon, Rotom, Togekiss
Ghost Types: Hydreigon, Scrafty

Hydreigon Life Orb
Trait: Levitate (Lol that rhymes)
Modest Nature
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Spe 4 Def
-Draco Meteor
-Dark Pulse
-Earth Power
-Protect

Next, I needed a pokemon that synergizes well with metagross. Hydreigon suits that role perfectly, as he can take any dark type attack. Plus, he hits trick room users extremely hard with dark pulse. Draco meteor hits anything in hydreigon's way extremely hard. Dark pulse disposes of pesky psychic and ghost types that will wall this team. Earth power will surprise heatran users and will most likely OHKO them if they do not carry the shuca berry.

Synergy:

Bug Types: Togekiss
Fighting Types: Togekiss
Dragon Types: Metagross, Togekiss
Fairy Types: Metagross
Ice Types: Metagross, Rotom

*Scrafty @Chople Berry (Used to be Infernape)
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Hp 252 Atk 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Fake Out
-Knock Off
-Drain Punch
-Taunt

Scrafty is a new member to the team. He works better with this team than Infernape does, as he adds the benefit of having a double intimidate core plus better coverage on trick room setters, which were a big threat until this guy came along. Fake out is a standard move to have. It is a free turn to flinch something upon him coming in. Knock off is an extremely powerful move in generation 6. It got a buff in the base power, plus, the power increases with knocking off an item. In addition to that, it is STAB, which will make scrafty a huge threat to any psychic type. Drain punch is nice to have, as it gives scrafty additional health along with damage. Taunt is a nice surprise factor to have on trick room setters, however, most of them do carry mental herb, which is something that I would need to watch out for.

Synergy:
Fighting types: Togekiss
Flying Types: Rotom, Manectric, Metagross
Fairy Types: Metagross

Thank you very much for taking a look at my team! please give me feedback on it because I want this team to be the best it can be!

Importable:
Rotom-Wash @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 240 HP / 16 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Electroweb

Scrafty @ Chople Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Spd / 252 Atk / 252 HP
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Taunt

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Protect

Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Follow Me
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Tailwind

Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Earth Power
- Protect

 

[NinjasOnIce]

Bump!

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

Hey there, cool team.
I was quite excited for Mega Manectric when I learned it had Intimidate and it really is powerful when you use it well.
Personally I found Overheat to be better than Flamethrower it just provides that extra little kick you need to score a whole bunch of KOs and OHKOs.
I think replacing Rotom's Zap Plate with an Assault Vest could be beneficial. The extra special bulk it provides allows you to tank Charizard Y's Solarbeam and without Rotom in the way, Charizard could cause a lot of damage. The moveset would obviously have to change as you can't run any non attacking moves. Because of that I would run Electroweb and Hidden Power Grass in the last two slots. HP grass nails Gastrodon and any other Water/Ground-types while Electroweb provides speed control (it deals damage and lowers the speed of the both opposing Pokemon by one stage).
I don't really think Infernape is good enough to make it in doubles due to it's low bulk and weakness to EQ. In it's place I'd recommend you use Scrafty who helps you form a double Intimidate core and still provides you with both Fake Out and Taunt. In addition to this it can run Knock Off which will help further disrupt the opposing team.

 

[NinjasOnIce]

Thank you so much for this advice! I'll definitely try out these suggestions you've made and report back.

 

[Spy]

Dat mega manectic and rotom combo. I liek it. But in all seriousness that's some great combo u got going there. Honestly I would try out replacing togekiss with friend guard vivillion. Vivillion gets rage powder as an egg move which makes all moves directed towards that. Combine that with friend guard and u got a mega manectric that can survive hits as well. If u really need tailwind support u could replace Infernape with zapdos since it a a good wall or sp attacker, gets tailwind from 5th gen, and also gets discharge and heat wave while not sharing any weaknesses with any of ur other electric types.

 

[scarfConnoisseur]

All you needed to say was Manectric to pique my interest. I (who have never played Doubles on Showdown until now) tried climbing with it myself and got to 1818 before I had to stop for IRL stuff-- of course, this was including the Rotom and Scrafty changes BLOOD TOTEM suggested. Extremely solid team, very fun to play with. A++

Dat mega manectic and rotom combo. I liek it. But in all seriousness that's some great combo u got going there. Honestly I would try out replacing togekiss with friend guard vivillion. Vivillion gets rage powder as an egg move which makes all moves directed towards that. Combine that with friend guard and u got a mega manectric that can survive hits as well. If u really need tailwind support u could replace Infernape with zapdos since it a a good wall or sp attacker, gets tailwind from 5th gen, and also gets discharge and heat wave while not sharing any weaknesses with any of ur other electric types.

As much as I love Vivillon, with 80/50/50 defenses (compared to Toge's 85/95/115) and a Bug/Flying typing (getting OHKO'd if you so much as blow on it in my experience) I don't think a Rage Powder set would be much of an improvement over FollowKiss. Even if the 25% damage reduction from Friend Guard applies to itself (I'm 70% sure it does), it's not likely to give an ally in need more than 1 free turn (assuming the first hit she takes doesn't OHKO her, leaving the ally in need to be targeted that turn anyways). To be fair, it has the same amount of weaknesses as Togekiss (5), but has 1 less resistance as well as 1 less immunity. On top of that, the point of Follow Me/Rage Powder is to not let the poke you're protecting get hit at all, so the Friend Guard boost goes to waste in that regard on the turn you Rage Powder (followed shortly by Vivillon's early demise, after which you are left Friend Guard-less).
tl;dr Togekiss > Vivillon in FM/RP support. My apologies to KaoTicZombiez, but my advice to OP is to ignore him.

As for my own suggestions/improvements, I don't have much to offer. Fire Blast over Earth Power on Hydreigon is indeed an option to consider if you want to hit relevant Steel- and Grass-types better (particularly Ferrothorn, Scizor, Venusaur, etc.), but there's no real need for that since Manectric already has Overheat/Flamethrower and you have Infernape if you don't want to stick with BLOOD TOTEM's Scrafty replacement (I totally support using Scrafty though, he's amazing). Other than that there's nothing this particular noob's eyes see that can be improved. Hope you continue to do great with it! (and hope you don't mind if I continue to ladder with it~ <3)

 

[Spy]

All you needed to say was Manectric to pique my interest. I (who have never played Doubles on Showdown until now) tried climbing with it myself and got to 1818 before I had to stop for IRL stuff-- of course, this was including the Rotom and Scrafty changes BLOOD TOTEM suggested. Extremely solid team, very fun to play with. A++


As much as I love Vivillon, with 80/50/50 defenses (compared to Toge's 85/95/115) and a Bug/Flying typing (getting OHKO'd if you so much as blow on it in my experience) I don't think a Rage Powder set would be much of an improvement over FollowKiss. Even if the 25% damage reduction from Friend Guard applies to itself (I'm 70% sure it does), it's not likely to give an ally in need more than 1 free turn (assuming the first hit she takes doesn't OHKO her, leaving the ally in need to be targeted that turn anyways). To be fair, it has the same amount of weaknesses as Togekiss (5), but has 1 less resistance as well as 1 less immunity. On top of that, the point of Follow Me/Rage Powder is to not let the poke you're protecting get hit at all, so the Friend Guard boost goes to waste in that regard on the turn you Rage Powder (followed shortly by Vivillon's early demise, after which you are left Friend Guard-less).
tl;dr Togekiss > Vivillon in FM/RP support. My apologies to KaoTicZombiez, but my advice to OP is to ignore him.

As for my own suggestions/improvements, I don't have much to offer. Fire Blast over Earth Power on Hydreigon is indeed an option to consider if you want to hit relevant Steel- and Grass-types better (particularly Ferrothorn, Scizor, Venusaur, etc.), but there's no real need for that since Manectric already has Overheat/Flamethrower and you have Infernape if you don't want to stick with BLOOD TOTEM's Scrafty replacement (I totally support using Scrafty though, he's amazing). Other than that there's nothing this particular noob's eyes see that can be improved. Hope you continue to do great with it! (and hope you don't mind if I continue to ladder with it~ <3)

No apologies needed. I understand :D. Yeah vivillion isn't really the definition of "bulky" and togekiss would seem like a much better choice lol. I've tried this team on the ladder myself, and it's pretty good the way it is.

 

[NinjasOnIce]

As for my own suggestions/improvements, I don't have much to offer. Fire Blast over Earth Power on Hydreigon is indeed an option to consider if you want to hit relevant Steel- and Grass-types better (particularly Ferrothorn, Scizor, Venusaur, etc.), but there's no real need for that since Manectric already has Overheat/Flamethrower and you have Infernape if you don't want to stick with BLOOD TOTEM's Scrafty replacement (I totally support using Scrafty though, he's amazing). Other than that there's nothing this particular noob's eyes see that can be improved. Hope you continue to do great with it! (and hope you don't mind if I continue to ladder with it~ <3)

I've been trying out scrafty, and hes been working out pretty well for me. Also, I am more than happy to see that you are enjoying using this team, it means a lot. Keep using it to show off how great manectric's potential is :).

 

[Stratos]

Hi, sorry I'm slow on the rate here. You've got a pretty good team overall but you could make a couple adjustments to improve the efficiency of your team:

For one, that Rotom set needs work. Nothing on your team actually wants to take a Discharge except Manectric before a mevolve. You'd be better off running Thunderbolt there. And the EVs—those were specially designed to live Ludicolo's Giga Drain, which isn't a concern with Assault Vest there, so you're better off just doing 252 HP 252 SpA 4 SpD.

Manectric really isn't using his speed for much. The next fastest threat in the metagame is Mega Gengar, so going max spe is a waste of spe given how often other meganectric appear on the latter. You're better off shifting his EVs to 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 SpD.

As for Hydreigon, I'm not convinced it's the best Pokemon for your team. It looks like including it puts too much stress on Togekiss and metagross to be your team's entire defensive backbone, and doesn't contribute very much defensively or offensively that Scrafty doesn't. Consider changing it to a Salamence, which is similar but with a defensive typing that should help you out a little more, as well as providing a second tailwind setter should you choose to use it:

Salamence @ Life Orb / Sitrus Berry (I'm not sure how much of your team's defense is gonna be relying on mence, Id start with life orb, but if he dies too quickly, you could try Sitrus)
Intimidate
Timid
252 SpA 252 Spe 4 HP
-Hydro Pump / Fire Blast
-Draco Meteor
-Tailwind / Fire Blast
-Protect

(Ferrothorn isn't very good in the meta right now which is why I put fire blast only as a second slash, but it is useful to beat Amoonguss, so it's an option)

With so many Intimidators, though, I'd be more than a little wary of Bisharp. Thus my last suggested change, putting Hammer Arm on Metagross and giving it 8 Speed EVs to give Bisharp less room to breathe. I'd replace Bullet Punch since by all accounts Meta bullet punch hits like a pussy so you're not losing much. In addition, Hammer Arm can provide a soft check to Trick Room by dropping Metagross's speed so that he isn't moving last. In addition, Hammer Arm should give SubTran a harder time setting up against this team, which is always good because actually fuck subtran.

Hopefully these tweaks should give your team a little extra edge, good luck out there!

Summary:

40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe Manectric
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD (or Spe) Rotom-W, Thunderbolt replaces discharge
Hammer Arm replaces Bullet Punch on Metagross
Salamence > Hydreigon

 

[NinjasOnIce]

Hi, sorry I'm slow on the rate here. You've got a pretty good team overall but you could make a couple adjustments to improve the efficiency of your team:

For one, that Rotom set needs work. Nothing on your team actually wants to take a Discharge except Manectric before a mevolve. You'd be better off running Thunderbolt there. And the EVs—those were specially designed to live Ludicolo's Giga Drain, which isn't a concern with Assault Vest there, so you're better off just doing 252 HP 252 SpA 4 SpD.

Manectric really isn't using his speed for much. The next fastest threat in the metagame is Mega Gengar, so going max spe is a waste of spe given how often other meganectric appear on the latter. You're better off shifting his EVs to 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 SpD.

As for Hydreigon, I'm not convinced it's the best Pokemon for your team. It looks like including it puts too much stress on Togekiss and metagross to be your team's entire defensive backbone, and doesn't contribute very much defensively or offensively that Scrafty doesn't. Consider changing it to a Salamence, which is similar but with a defensive typing that should help you out a little more, as well as providing a second tailwind setter should you choose to use it:

Salamence @ Life Orb / Sitrus Berry (I'm not sure how much of your team's defense is gonna be relying on mence, Id start with life orb, but if he dies too quickly, you could try Sitrus)
Intimidate
Timid
252 SpA 252 Spe 4 HP
-Hydro Pump / Fire Blast
-Draco Meteor
-Tailwind / Fire Blast
-Protect

(Ferrothorn isn't very good in the meta right now which is why I put fire blast only as a second slash, but it is useful to beat Amoonguss, so it's an option)

With so many Intimidators, though, I'd be more than a little wary of Bisharp. Thus my last suggested change, putting Hammer Arm on Metagross and giving it 8 Speed EVs to give Bisharp less room to breathe. I'd replace Bullet Punch since by all accounts Meta bullet punch hits like a pussy so you're not losing much. In addition, Hammer Arm can provide a soft check to Trick Room by dropping Metagross's speed so that he isn't moving last. In addition, Hammer Arm should give SubTran a harder time setting up against this team, which is always good because actually fuck subtran.

Hopefully these tweaks should give your team a little extra edge, good luck out there!

Summary:

40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe Manectric
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD (or Spe) Rotom-W, Thunderbolt replaces discharge
Hammer Arm replaces Bullet Punch on Metagross
Salamence > Hydreigon

Thank you very much for the rate! No need to apologize I am just glad that you put in the time to help improve my team. I will definitely try out mence, as he can provide tailwind support, which i have really been loving in doubles lately. Plus, fairy types won't tear a hole in some of my pokemon (hydreigon, scrafty). I also think hammer arm is a great suggestion, bullet punch wasn't doing anything for me anyways. It barely did 50% to an alakazam! That is just sad. Thanks again for rating my team!