ORAS OU Mega Sableye is REAL (Stall team)

The moment I heard about mega sableye being released I went crazy for it. Sabeleye finally got the stats (and ability) to really shine during battles in the XY and (then) upcomming ORAS meta game.
With his ability magic bounce and his bulky stats mega sableye ahs become one of the most durable magic bouncers in the game and oh boy, he does it good.


At first i tried a more balanced team approach around mega sableye but i quickly found out he fits best in a (full) stall team and this was the basc design i came up with.

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100 Rupees (Sableye) (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dark Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp

This is the flagship set for Mega Sableye, with this set pokemon such as ferrothorn (and forretress, but he is outclassed by most spinners/setters) are complete setup bait for him. The moment sabeleye starts boosting the only pokemon that can really scare him out are the fairies, for these situations i have Bronzong, and for azumarill I always try to burn her on the switch in and then switch to lando for the extra intimidate or the suicune/chesnaught to stall it out with either sleep talk or with leech seed + spiky shield.
With recover mega sableye has a nice and stable recovery, with certain team set ups I must be sure to switch out with atleast 50% hp so i can take a hit before recoveering if i switch back or take the Wish from my clefable. Calm Mind is the patch up his special defence and boost up Dark Pulse.
For now I run Dark Pulse on my sableye but I might switch it to Shadow Ball for the occasional sp def drop on my enemies. But for now dark pulse does its job.


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Invictus Maneo (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Landorus-t is a real beast when it comes to tanking physical hits, with intimidate + def build he can take a lot of physical hits. Because of this he creates a lot of switches on the opponents side of the field which will give him the opportunity to set up some Stealth Rocks or use Knock Off on the incomming counter for him and significantly weaken them(or atleast get rid of the LO etc.)
U-turn is in his set to keep the momentum and get some chip-damage on the opponents which is always welcome in a stall based team. Earthquake is a really powerfull stab move which can Heavily damage if not KO alot of pokemon.

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Condom (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
- Moonblast
- Wish

For my team I really needed a wishpasser and a clerc and Unaware clefable is perfect for this rol, with unaware clefable I can switch in on setting up pokemon (after statussing them/leech seeding if possible) and punish them for setting up. Clefable has the important roll of keeping lando-t healthy through out the battle and get rid of nasty status effects for my team which can break my team during the late/end game. Moonlight+wish combo so I am able to instantly heal her or OPT out for a wishpass while PP stalling/toxic stalling some setup threats.
The only pokemon i sometimes find hard to beat is Volcarona and must make sure to toxic it ASAP to stall out with clefable till toxis starts taking its toll.

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Nawty (Chesnaught) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Spiky Shield
- Spikes
- Drain Punch
- Leech Seed

After this I was looking for a good spike setter and found out that Chesnaught is a very good spiker and has acces to leech seed. The only thing I find a bit meh is that a lot (if not all) moves blocked by bulletproof are special attacks and since he is a physical tank it isnt deemed wise to switch in on a special attacker unless I am 100% sure they are going to use a blockable move and thus PP stall a bit.
With the release of ORAS chesnaught got acces to Drain Punch which is a nice recovery drain attack when paired with leech seeds/leftovers recovery.


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Heat Bunny (Heatran) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 Spd
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt

This set was suggested by Enki And I have to say I really love this set, if I see a clefable in the team preview I must preserve my heatran at all costs to counter that since otherwise it might sweep thrwough my whole team. If I somehow lose heatran before taking down the clefable my only chance of winning will be PP stalling it and CMing up with Suicune and even then it mostlikely is already too late. The suggested speed makes me able to outrun and 1hit most specs magnezones.
Heatran is also my full counter vs mega venusaur (unless they run EQ but i've only seen people run that on mega venu in the first weeks of XY)
The moment i let a clefable set up her second CM on the switch to heatren its pretty much over and I can forfeit the game So i really need to keep the pressure high on any clefable i see in the team preview.
Toxic is there to toxic stall out any other bulky opponent and forces more switches if they decided on statting up/staying in longer. Lava Plume and EP are two very reliable STABs which give a wide variety of coverage which I lacked before when I was using bronzong.


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Hentai Senpai (Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
- Acid Spray
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin

After some thinking I decided to ditch CroCune (even tho I loved using it, so I recommend it to other people who need a bulky water type) and get this monster on my team instead. It was pointed out that i need a good counter vs zard Y and acid spray + scald should be able to do this for me. I will see if im really going to need Haze since I already am running taunt on Heatran so I might switch this back to knock off or go for toxic spikes.
a rapid spin user is always n ice to have in my team since if im not able to mega evolve sableye early game (forced out by a fairy type or something) I am most likely going to have hazards on my side so with this I should be able to take care of that. Haze is on him to get rid of some annoying stat boosters that might get out of control and punish people who get greedy and think they can set up on tentacruel

Heatproof4Life (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball

Bronzong is my main fairy blocker which like to switch in on mega sableye and get easily tanked by this sp defence beast. the reason why I named my bronzong Heatproof is to cause a little mind game on my opponent which makes them either try out a fire attack (non stab) and get a gyroball back in return or try out an eartquake (this is less likely to happen since the fire attack is more safe to use than giving a free turn, but every now and then it happens)bronzong is also my back up SR setter for when i completely screw up and my lando gets taken out before i can set up my SRs. Toxic is always welcommed on stall teams.
I added EQ to his set so he wont be complete setup fodder for any taunter in the game.

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Suicide (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

This is the first time for me to use Suicune, it has always been a threat vs one of my older teams (look up sandcharm if you are interested, i can post a link if people ask for it) and I must say, CroCune is a BEAST in OU. With a physical defensive EV spread he can take on pokemon such as cloyster with ease (even tho a burn on the switch in from sableye helps a lot) and is being able to perfectly PP stall a lot of pokemon during midgame and endgame with his rest talk combo with the ability Pressure. At first I wasnt really happy with it only having pressure but damn was I wrong. This ability has perfectly PP stall a lot of high recovery users I have faced in my time on the ladder with this team.
The thing i was missing in my team was a set up pokemon and suicune fits this role perfectly with calm mind. Scald is a nice stab attack with 30% chance to burn physical or any other steel type pokemon that I couldnt get a status on before.

100 Rupees (Sableye) (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dark Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp

Invictus Maneo (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Condom (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
- Moonblast
- Wish

Nawty (Chesnaught) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Spiky Shield
- Spikes
- Drain Punch
- Leech Seed

Heat Bunny (Heatran) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 Spd
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt

Suicide (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Pastebin link for the Android app users:
http://pastebin.com/72ZUu0YA
 
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Hello there, interesting Stall Team.
Now, as strange as it may sound, Mega Venusaur is a threat for your team, being immune to toxic, can threaten Suicune and Clefable thanks to its stabs, doesn't care about Landorus-therian, Bronzong and Chesnaught while he can poison mega Sableye with Sludge Bomb, with a great 30% chance.
Another problem, albeit rare is Calm Mind Stored Power Clefable (though normal cm fable can simply stall your clefable out) Stored Power is able to 2hko Clefable after 6 calm minds, while Gyro Ball from Bronzong fails to even 3hko Clefable, and having only 8 pps also does not help you here, the rest of your team is sadly set up fodder, especially if Clefable has Unaware.

Now then, I would like to suggest you an easy fix, something that won't drastically change your team, but still being able to deal effectively against Venusaur, Clefable and ease off some pressure from Chesnaught against Bisharp.
Have you considered Taunt Heatran over Bronzong? You get one of the best answer against Clefable and Venusaur (since earthquake on venusaur is veeeery rare) and also a solid check against Bisharp, if by chance Chesnaught is at ++2 iron head ohko range.
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Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Toxic/Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt

Speed allows you to outspeed jolly bisharp and jolly breloom, max hp for bulk, the rest goes to defense, this way Adamant Life Orb +2 Sucker Punch from Bisharp will never ohko you.
Feel free to choose Toxic or Stealth Rock, my pick would be Toxic, but if you work better with two Stealth Rocks users then by all means pick Rocks.
Flash Cannon isn't that useful since Clefable will still be stopped anyways, Earth Power however gives you a way to weaken (opposing) Heatran and ease Mega Sableye's work later.
Hope it helped, good luck.
 
Hello there, interesting Stall Team.
Now, as strange as it may sound, Mega Venusaur is a threat for your team, being immune to toxic, can threaten Suicune and Clefable thanks to its stabs, doesn't care about Landorus-therian, Bronzong and Chesnaught while he can poison mega Sableye with Sludge Bomb, with a great 30% chance.
Another problem, albeit rare is Calm Mind Stored Power Clefable (though normal cm fable can simply stall your clefable out) Stored Power is able to 2hko Clefable after 6 calm minds, while Gyro Ball from Bronzong fails to even 3hko Clefable, and having only 8 pps also does not help you here, the rest of your team is sadly set up fodder, especially if Clefable has Unaware.

Now then, I would like to suggest you an easy fix, something that won't drastically change your team, but still being able to deal effectively against Venusaur, Clefable and ease off some pressure from Chesnaught against Bisharp.
Have you considered Taunt Heatran over Bronzong? You get one of the best answer against Clefable and Venusaur (since earthquake on venusaur is veeeery rare) and also a solid check against Bisharp, if by chance Chesnaught is at ++2 iron head ohko range.
485.gif

Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Toxic/Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt

Speed allows you to outspeed jolly bisharp and jolly breloom, max hp for bulk, the rest goes to defense, this way Adamant Life Orb +2 Sucker Punch from Bisharp will never ohko you.
Feel free to choose Toxic or Stealth Rock, my pick would be Toxic, but if you work better with two Stealth Rocks users then by all means pick Rocks.
Flash Cannon isn't that useful since Clefable will still be stopped anyways, Earth Power however gives you a way to weaken (opposing) Heatran and ease Mega Sableye's work later.
Hope it helped, good luck.

Thanks a lot, this set really looks like a great help for my team and will be sure to use it.
And to be honest I was looking around for a good taunt user so you also dealt with that for me.
And I think I will go for toxic over SR since landorus-t forces enough switches to set up rocks and toxic is always needed for my team.
 
I'd consider running a more specially defensive spread on Unaware Clefable. One of the biggest threats to stall is setup+Rain Dance Manaphy which smashes through most of this team with ease. Otherwise solid stall team!
 
Agreeing with Windgrace, Unaware Clefable is great for dealing with certain special setup sweepers if it has enough SpDef. I suggest the spread 248 HP / 204 Def / 48 SpD / 8 Spe with a Calm nature. It handles CM Keldeo, LO Serperior and RD Manaphy pretty well, while retaining its ability to check physical attackers such as Sharp Beak SD Talonflame and Mega Lopunny. It also survives a +2 Waterfall from adamant Mega Gyarados.

Something I noticed about your team is that it has 5 physically bulky members and only Heatran (and Clefable to an extent) to handle the special side. This means you struggle against common threats including Landorus-I, mixed Altaria, Gardevoir, Diancie and Mega Zard Y with Focus Blast among many other things. Since you're already using Suicune as a strong physically defensive setup sweeper, you might want to consider making Mega Sableye specially defensive and giving it Knock Off/Foul Play/WoW/Recover. This set works amazingly on stall teams, especially considering how most teams are unprepared for it as opposed to the Def CM set which is pretty common.

Nice team :)
 
Alright guys im sure to give your suggestions a try once i get home :D
And yes you 2 really hit the weak spot on my team, thanks a bunch ^^

One thing tho Branflakes325 you suggested to run a more SP defensive spread on my clefable but the the spread I am using now has more sp defence than the one you suggested, so im a little bit confused.
 
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Atm im testing out the new sp defensive set you suggested on mega sableye, but my guts are telling me the (commonly used) defensive set is better since after 1 calm mind I already patched my spdef up.


And for the fix for my heatran I might get stone edge on him too just one shot zard Y out of the air (without any sp attack investmend)


And i added soemthing new to my team:
http://pastebin.com/hMuDrimu

tentacruel, I found this little guy in my old rain team and was like perfectly what I need. I might switch out knock off for Haze to get rid of annoying set up mons.
It gives me acces to taxic spikes and rapid spin stuff away from my own side of the field (which might be a problem if sableye is forced to switch without mega evolving)
 
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Alright I changed suicune for tentacruel.
My team is now able to handle threats like zard y much easier than it was before.

With the sp defence drops from acid spray im able to kill zard Y before he kills tenta even with the sun up.
 
Use Shadow Ball on Sableye Mega as it can hit Fairies for good damage, while most normal types who are immune to SB can be burn stalled. Chansey is the only problem and you cannot touch her even if you run Dark Pulse.
 
Use Shadow Ball on Sableye Mega as it can hit Fairies for good damage, while most normal types who are immune to SB can be burn stalled. Chansey is the only problem and you cannot touch her even if you run Dark Pulse.

Not being able to touch Chansey is a big thing, so I can't say I agree with this.

I definitely agree with making Mega Sableye Specially Defensive though. It's a great set, and I take it suits your team better.
 
Not being able to touch Chansey is a big thing, so I can't say I agree with this.

I definitely agree with making Mega Sableye Specially Defensive though. It's a great set, and I take it suits your team better.
You can't even dent Chansey even at +6 with Dark Pulse. It will just stall out your PP.

I know it might really change the way your team plays, but you could try the WoW/Recover/Knock Off/Foul Play set for M-Sable. It doesn't serve as much as a win con, but it does provide your team with a butt load of utility. A lot of the powerful special attackers that like to switch in on Sableye hate having their item Knocked Off (with the exception of megas), and the few physical threats that come in do not like being slammed with their own Attack stat (except Azu, which hates WoW).
 
Yeah I might switch to the special set for mega sable, I just hope I wont forget i switched him to a special set and switch him in on physical attacks.
And chansey is easily scared out by chesnaught.

Chansey WITH Eviolite: 0 Atk Chesnaught Drain Punch vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 228-270 (35.5 - 42%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Chansey WITHOUT eviolite: 0 Atk Chesnaught Drain Punch vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Chansey: 338-402 (52.6 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I know noone with an intact mind will use chnsey vs a physical attacker and will create an easy switch which I can either lay another layer of spikes or go leech seed and get get more chip damage + recovery.
In the end the chansey will be forced out many times and with SR up and toxic spikes (and normal spikes) I will wear it down eventually, getting rid of its Eviolite will be important however So generating a lot fo switches on my opponents team is the way to go to get rid of chansey.
 
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