I am trying to play the Ladder Tournament and I've been using this team, wanted to get some fixes if possible. It seems strong but in some match-ups I struggle (primarily fast bulky grounds)
Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out
- Thunder Punch
I don't really see a point to Zen Headbutt, you cover everything without it. The goal is ultimately to paralyze faster pokemon and let Medicham take them all out. I use a little bit of Volt-Turn along with it to get it some good match-ups when I can. I usually lead with Medicham and Fake Out to make sure I can spam my attacks later but if the opponent has a ghost, I usually lead with Rotom-W instead.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Discharge
- Pain Split
A faster Speed for fast TTar and any random stuff that hovers below those speed Ranges including slower Gliscors/Landorus-T. Discharge is a little better than Thunder Wave I realized because far too often I was getting opposing Rotom-Ws to really low health but Volt Switching to a fresh Pokemon didn't beat them and they just Pain Split to a good amount. It still gives para a few times and it's pretty good vs like Volcanion. Even though no Will-O-Wisp seems a little funky, I haven't really needed it much...in fact, it seems like everyone is so accustomed to "playing around Rotom-W" that it just doesn't work the way I would need it.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
But because I forgo Wisp on Rotom-W, I had to invest a lot of defense into Landorus-Therian. I'm not sure about Stone Edge vs Knock Off, I think the latter is probably better after playing some of these games..it would help me vs Chansey a lot more easily but would make it harder to punish Tornadus switch-ins and kill late-game Lando-Ts that have been hanging around. The fact that they can stick around vs a lot of my team makes it annoying and Stone Edge is nice for that. Rotom-W + Lando is my favorite combo in the game and in most of my teams and they do a good job of checking most of the top physical threats while Clefable and Klefki handle a lot of the special ones. One thing I am considering is maxing Speed. This would make dealing with faster Protect Heatrans a lot easier as well as random things like LO Nidoking.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
Clefable handles things like Mew/Latios/Rotom-W. I can take a lot of hits and just heal up, throwing out T-Waves when I predict a steel-type to switch-in. I think Flamethrower might actually be good enough over T-Wave on Clefable though, often it seems that I could sweep teams with just Clefable if I had the coverage but I still appreciate the fact that I can T-Wave a lot of Pokemon. The spread is just the analysis spread as I don't know many of the important calcs yet of ORAS.
Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise
- Play Rough
My answer to a few different Pokemon like Sub or Stealth Rock + SD Garchomp, Gliscor, etc. I can usually set up a few layers of Spikes and force a switch. This is the final thunder-wave Pokemon to support Medicham and Volcanion. Having Klefki as a second fairy takes a lot of pressure off of Clefable who can be burdened with trying to check Latios and then stuff like TTar in the same game - Klefki handles all the same stuff which is good because that stuff is imo the strongest stuff in the game. The priority T-Wave is the most important; one of the biggest changes I've had to get accustomed to in the ORAS metagame is that you're not beating all threats...in fact your team will barely be able to cover half of them when you think of all the obscure stuff that beats you (and although Klefki can't beat this, an example yesterday I almost lost to a CM/Morning Sun max Defense Espeon except I got lucky). Klefki's T-Wave at least gives me a good chance vs a lot of fast Pokemon that could possibly have gone unchecked. I'm split on Foul Play vs Play Rough. I initially thought Play Rough was much better but the more I struggle vs SD Gliscor/Landorus, the more I am leaning towards Foul Play. Some thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Grass]
This helps clear out Steel-types for CM Clefable, especially Ferrothorn and Scizor. It also puts a lot of pressure on Tail Glow Manaphy because you can come in on Surfs and TG Energy Ball doesn't KO which means you usually get 2-3 Steam Eruptions in on it. If they're not running Energy Ball they can't touch it. Volcanion benefits a lot from the paralysis support. The negatives are that without it he is slow and can run into problems with being a liability to opposing Stealth Rock or Spike. I have considered putting a Latios in his place - he can perform a lot of the same sweeping functions and Clefable/Klefki can deal with a lot of Pokemon that pressure Latios. Manaphy is also covered by Latios (and better). But one thing Latios would really hurt me with is dealing with Ferrothorn. While I can run Defog, it is more the fact that Ferrothorn just has a lot of opportunities to cause a team with Latios headaches...but with Volcanion, the hazard support can really force the hand of the person with Ferrothorn because I can force double switches to Volcanion vs Ferrothorn a lot. Steam Eruption still hurts so it's a lot easier to make it a guessing game which really only benefits me in that scenario. Volcanion also puts on a lot more pressure to Mega-Sableye than Latios can which really helps Medicham...since I can't paralyze it, I'm mostly relying on beating it down and Latios gives it more free switches to use Recover.
So that's the team, mostly looking for input on Latios vs Volcanion, a lot of the movesets/spreads and any random suggestions you come up with. If there is just a much better Pokemon to put somewhere I'm all ears..I do think the things I absolutely want to keep is the double Fairy Core in some capacity and ideally Mega-Medicham.
Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out
- Thunder Punch
I don't really see a point to Zen Headbutt, you cover everything without it. The goal is ultimately to paralyze faster pokemon and let Medicham take them all out. I use a little bit of Volt-Turn along with it to get it some good match-ups when I can. I usually lead with Medicham and Fake Out to make sure I can spam my attacks later but if the opponent has a ghost, I usually lead with Rotom-W instead.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Discharge
- Pain Split
A faster Speed for fast TTar and any random stuff that hovers below those speed Ranges including slower Gliscors/Landorus-T. Discharge is a little better than Thunder Wave I realized because far too often I was getting opposing Rotom-Ws to really low health but Volt Switching to a fresh Pokemon didn't beat them and they just Pain Split to a good amount. It still gives para a few times and it's pretty good vs like Volcanion. Even though no Will-O-Wisp seems a little funky, I haven't really needed it much...in fact, it seems like everyone is so accustomed to "playing around Rotom-W" that it just doesn't work the way I would need it.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
But because I forgo Wisp on Rotom-W, I had to invest a lot of defense into Landorus-Therian. I'm not sure about Stone Edge vs Knock Off, I think the latter is probably better after playing some of these games..it would help me vs Chansey a lot more easily but would make it harder to punish Tornadus switch-ins and kill late-game Lando-Ts that have been hanging around. The fact that they can stick around vs a lot of my team makes it annoying and Stone Edge is nice for that. Rotom-W + Lando is my favorite combo in the game and in most of my teams and they do a good job of checking most of the top physical threats while Clefable and Klefki handle a lot of the special ones. One thing I am considering is maxing Speed. This would make dealing with faster Protect Heatrans a lot easier as well as random things like LO Nidoking.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
Clefable handles things like Mew/Latios/Rotom-W. I can take a lot of hits and just heal up, throwing out T-Waves when I predict a steel-type to switch-in. I think Flamethrower might actually be good enough over T-Wave on Clefable though, often it seems that I could sweep teams with just Clefable if I had the coverage but I still appreciate the fact that I can T-Wave a lot of Pokemon. The spread is just the analysis spread as I don't know many of the important calcs yet of ORAS.
Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise
- Play Rough
My answer to a few different Pokemon like Sub or Stealth Rock + SD Garchomp, Gliscor, etc. I can usually set up a few layers of Spikes and force a switch. This is the final thunder-wave Pokemon to support Medicham and Volcanion. Having Klefki as a second fairy takes a lot of pressure off of Clefable who can be burdened with trying to check Latios and then stuff like TTar in the same game - Klefki handles all the same stuff which is good because that stuff is imo the strongest stuff in the game. The priority T-Wave is the most important; one of the biggest changes I've had to get accustomed to in the ORAS metagame is that you're not beating all threats...in fact your team will barely be able to cover half of them when you think of all the obscure stuff that beats you (and although Klefki can't beat this, an example yesterday I almost lost to a CM/Morning Sun max Defense Espeon except I got lucky). Klefki's T-Wave at least gives me a good chance vs a lot of fast Pokemon that could possibly have gone unchecked. I'm split on Foul Play vs Play Rough. I initially thought Play Rough was much better but the more I struggle vs SD Gliscor/Landorus, the more I am leaning towards Foul Play. Some thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Grass]
This helps clear out Steel-types for CM Clefable, especially Ferrothorn and Scizor. It also puts a lot of pressure on Tail Glow Manaphy because you can come in on Surfs and TG Energy Ball doesn't KO which means you usually get 2-3 Steam Eruptions in on it. If they're not running Energy Ball they can't touch it. Volcanion benefits a lot from the paralysis support. The negatives are that without it he is slow and can run into problems with being a liability to opposing Stealth Rock or Spike. I have considered putting a Latios in his place - he can perform a lot of the same sweeping functions and Clefable/Klefki can deal with a lot of Pokemon that pressure Latios. Manaphy is also covered by Latios (and better). But one thing Latios would really hurt me with is dealing with Ferrothorn. While I can run Defog, it is more the fact that Ferrothorn just has a lot of opportunities to cause a team with Latios headaches...but with Volcanion, the hazard support can really force the hand of the person with Ferrothorn because I can force double switches to Volcanion vs Ferrothorn a lot. Steam Eruption still hurts so it's a lot easier to make it a guessing game which really only benefits me in that scenario. Volcanion also puts on a lot more pressure to Mega-Sableye than Latios can which really helps Medicham...since I can't paralyze it, I'm mostly relying on beating it down and Latios gives it more free switches to use Recover.
So that's the team, mostly looking for input on Latios vs Volcanion, a lot of the movesets/spreads and any random suggestions you come up with. If there is just a much better Pokemon to put somewhere I'm all ears..I do think the things I absolutely want to keep is the double Fairy Core in some capacity and ideally Mega-Medicham.