Yo! This is my first RMT. I like to build fun and prediction heavy offensive teams, since I mostly play on phone during commuters. I've basically dropped competitive Pokémon after Oras, since my personal life has become so busy I'm not allowed to be on computer daily or even weekly bar checking email. This isn't top tier, not even close, but it might help you to get through low ladder into mid ladder. Without further ado, here's the team.
I've been really feeling Mega Shark under Psychic Terrain lately, and decided to throw up an offensive team built around it. The team consists of early game rocks + spikes, Gren and CM Lele weakening walls and other defensive threats, with Zapdos potentially paralyzing faster scarfers and/or Chomp chipping offensive threats, Torn-T as a fast Defog support knocking off Lefties and U-turning on opposing switches into an appropriate switchin. Fairly mindless, yeah, but I have a hard on for this kind of mild HO. The team itself relies on bluffing typical sets (Ash-Gren, scarf Lele, Flyinium Z Torn-T, defensive Zapdos), which allows for sniping Shark threats, sacking all 5 mons besides it and eventually cleaning up with Psychic Terrain boosted Psychic Fangs. PF deals more damage than Crunch against neutral targets, while the terrain obviously negates Fake Out and Quick Attack from typical offensive megas, like Lopunny and Pinsir, respectively. (Note: Fightinium Z -> Terrain Extender and Life Orb -> Flyinium Z might be the way to go, but since I threw this team up in 15 minutes and played 3 games with it, I haven't gotten into a lot of testing for alternative sets yet.)
Let's bite into the team.
Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
The first member of the team I envisioned (Shark + Lele) was Protean Gren. Ash-Gren is the typical Gren set as of now, and at team preview this totally looks like Ash for special offensive presense. Spikes + HP Fire help against steel types bar Celes (former) and Heatran (latter), chipping Ferrothorn, Magearna, Mega-Maw, scarfless Kartana, Mega-Scizor and Magnezone to an extent. Gunk Shot for Clef, Bulu and Fini and Ice Beam for spammable coverage against Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega-Pinsir etc. Self explanatory. The fun part is initially bluffing Specs Ash, and after revealing Protean, bluffing Scarf for Bulu switchins on Spikes for example. Second vanguard of the team, typically getting in second setting some Spikes up and chipping opposing mons.
Tapu Lele @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Moonblast
Part 1 of this two parter. Since Gren is so eager to come in and reveal e-belt, most opposing players assume Lele is wearing a scarf, so throwing it in after Gren drops is usually the play. Opponent switches into appropriate switch in (Ferro, Heatran, Skarm), and you decimate it with All-out Pummeling. CM is there mainly for Clef and Chansey, HP Fire or Shadow Ball aren't needed on this particular set. Lele's main role is to setup Terrain, so try to keep it alive for Shark cleanup.
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog
Most controversial mon on the team. I'm sure there's a better alternative, but this is the reason I'm throwing this team up here.
Torn-T's role is to outspeed up to 120 speed mons (regular Alakazam) and Defog opposing rocks away. Max SpA for Hurricane damage, since Knock and U-turn only serve utility purpose. Bluffs Skystrike nuke, forcing switches and clicking U-turn allows you to capitalize on that. Not much to say, since I'm really unsure about this mon's purpose besides the obvious. This is the first Skystrike-less Defog Torn-T I'm using, and it feel super odd and bad.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
Dedicated suicide lead. Easily tanks every single HP Ice in the metagame (and just barely lives 80 SpA Ice Beam from Protean Gren), allowing for safe rocks. Koko leads are a mindgame, though, since Specs D-Gleam clean OHKOs and Shuca/Reflect variants live EQ. Earthquaking on Taunt always wins, mind you. Defensive Lando-T's HP Ice is 3HKO.
Click rocks, click SD, click the hardest hitting move. Simple as that.
Faces competition from Landorus-T, which has U-turn along with HP Ice, but since Intimidate isn't necessarily needed, SD Dragon Claw/EQ chip hard and having a sac/gaining free switch due to suicide nature of Chomp, I decided to include this on the team. Also lead suicide Chomp has been a bae since early Oras.
Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
The meat of the team, Mega-Shark is here just to eat opposing mons alive. Since Psychic Fangs became a thing in Gen 7, I've had a thing for this particular mon but I never got around to build a team with it until now. 4 SpDef EVs for opposing Download users before mega evolving.
At +1, Mega-Shark outspeeds everything under and including base 90 positive nature max speed +1 (Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, scarf Exca, Mega Zam / Aero). At +2, only relevant threat outside of other positive natured base 100s at +2's (Jolly Char-X, Volc) is Hawlucha, which Zapdos checks hard. This set lacks the means to hit Mage and Heatran hard, unfortunately, but that's what the rest of the team is for.
Crunch is fairly spammable Strong Jaw-boosted STAB attack coming off from attack stat of 416, dealing 67,1 - 79,2% against 0 HP Heatran and dealing over 50% against SpDef variant, negating the need for Water STAB. Off the top of my head, Koko and Mega-Maw might be the only mons which aren't guaranteed to be 2HKOed by Crunch (assuming no hazards) while Liquidation is a guaranteed twoshot. Ice Fang for Lando-T, Zygarde etc. Keep in mind that Ice Fang hits slightly harder (around 5 HP) than Terrain boosted Fangs against Ice weak mons.
Terrain boosted Psychic Fangs, on the other hand, devours everything Crunch doesn't (bar resistances and immunities, obvs), and is the main reason for this team to exist. I just wanted to test Fangs under boosting, non-priority allowing circumstances and see how stuff works out. It hits Hawlucha, Keldeo, Amoonguss, Mega-Lopunny and -Venusaur, as well as Pex almost twice as hard as EQ (SpDef variant is a clean OHKO, while the non-existing 252HP / 252+Def has 87,5% chance to OHKO after one layer of hazards), while Terrain obviously negates priority moves from mons like Zygarde, Breloom and Infernape, along with aforementioned Mega versions of Lopunny and Pinsir as well as Medicham.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
Final member of the team. I felt like I needed electric + fire coverage, secondary ground immunity, scarf Kartana and Hawlucha resist and some sort of speed control. Fast bulky 3 attack Zapdos fits this role like a glove.
I didn't feel the need to add SpA EVs at all, since Ferro or Max HP Lando-T are never OHKOed anyway (unless Modest) and Lefties are necessary for switching into chip and bluffing more tanky, HP Iceless set. Heat Wave and HP Ice hit a lot of stuff super effectively, weakening them for Mega-Shark. Static disencourages contact move users like Kartana, Jirachi and Mega-Lopunny from spamming their neutral moves against the team (Knock off from Kart, U-turn users, Fake out etc) and Discharge is there for paralyzing non-contact mons. Originally I ran T-bolt, but the damage isn't needed at all and well, yellow magic is yellow magic.
Threatlist:
-Mega-Mawile has no switchins at all. Pre-evolved can come in on free switch against everything, since -1 Chomp doesn't OHKO it with EQ. Mega-Shark and Torn-T have no neutral move against it, Zapdos doesn't OHKO, neither does Gren, and Lele has a chance to OHKO after Rocks or a Spike, while having both up guarantees a KO with All-out. Psychic Terrain negates Sucker mind games, though.
-Dual dance / SG Mage outspeeds everything bar +1 Shark, and boltbeam murks the whole team.
-Char-Y punches holes through the whole team, even Zapdos is basically OHKOed by sun boosted Flamethrower after rocks (81.3% chance to OHKO).
-Mega-Sab is problematic to deal with if Lele goes down, which is one reason to replace Fightinium Lele with Flyinium Torn-T. CM M-Sab deals with Torn-T, though, if allowed to boost up and not getting confused.
-There's probably more, but I'm starting to get tired af.
No replays unfortunately, nor any relevant calcs. Feel free to try this, and please inform me of what's wrong with the team.
Note: Chomp is there only because I still have bias towards it, Lando-T or even lead Exca probably have way more utility and usage than Chomp, but like I said, this team is made for fun and is not supposed to be optimized for high tier play. I'm torn between Torn-T's set and any other hazard removal support, though, since I want to keep Dos as 3 attacks + roost. Replace it with whatever suits you the best. Toxic Spikes support would be super great for Shark sweep, which made me think about Tentacruel, but 3 water types might be a bit too much, and it would also add an additional Lando-T weakness.
I've been really feeling Mega Shark under Psychic Terrain lately, and decided to throw up an offensive team built around it. The team consists of early game rocks + spikes, Gren and CM Lele weakening walls and other defensive threats, with Zapdos potentially paralyzing faster scarfers and/or Chomp chipping offensive threats, Torn-T as a fast Defog support knocking off Lefties and U-turning on opposing switches into an appropriate switchin. Fairly mindless, yeah, but I have a hard on for this kind of mild HO. The team itself relies on bluffing typical sets (Ash-Gren, scarf Lele, Flyinium Z Torn-T, defensive Zapdos), which allows for sniping Shark threats, sacking all 5 mons besides it and eventually cleaning up with Psychic Terrain boosted Psychic Fangs. PF deals more damage than Crunch against neutral targets, while the terrain obviously negates Fake Out and Quick Attack from typical offensive megas, like Lopunny and Pinsir, respectively. (Note: Fightinium Z -> Terrain Extender and Life Orb -> Flyinium Z might be the way to go, but since I threw this team up in 15 minutes and played 3 games with it, I haven't gotten into a lot of testing for alternative sets yet.)
Let's bite into the team.
Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
The first member of the team I envisioned (Shark + Lele) was Protean Gren. Ash-Gren is the typical Gren set as of now, and at team preview this totally looks like Ash for special offensive presense. Spikes + HP Fire help against steel types bar Celes (former) and Heatran (latter), chipping Ferrothorn, Magearna, Mega-Maw, scarfless Kartana, Mega-Scizor and Magnezone to an extent. Gunk Shot for Clef, Bulu and Fini and Ice Beam for spammable coverage against Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega-Pinsir etc. Self explanatory. The fun part is initially bluffing Specs Ash, and after revealing Protean, bluffing Scarf for Bulu switchins on Spikes for example. Second vanguard of the team, typically getting in second setting some Spikes up and chipping opposing mons.
Tapu Lele @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Moonblast
Part 1 of this two parter. Since Gren is so eager to come in and reveal e-belt, most opposing players assume Lele is wearing a scarf, so throwing it in after Gren drops is usually the play. Opponent switches into appropriate switch in (Ferro, Heatran, Skarm), and you decimate it with All-out Pummeling. CM is there mainly for Clef and Chansey, HP Fire or Shadow Ball aren't needed on this particular set. Lele's main role is to setup Terrain, so try to keep it alive for Shark cleanup.
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog
Most controversial mon on the team. I'm sure there's a better alternative, but this is the reason I'm throwing this team up here.
Torn-T's role is to outspeed up to 120 speed mons (regular Alakazam) and Defog opposing rocks away. Max SpA for Hurricane damage, since Knock and U-turn only serve utility purpose. Bluffs Skystrike nuke, forcing switches and clicking U-turn allows you to capitalize on that. Not much to say, since I'm really unsure about this mon's purpose besides the obvious. This is the first Skystrike-less Defog Torn-T I'm using, and it feel super odd and bad.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
Dedicated suicide lead. Easily tanks every single HP Ice in the metagame (and just barely lives 80 SpA Ice Beam from Protean Gren), allowing for safe rocks. Koko leads are a mindgame, though, since Specs D-Gleam clean OHKOs and Shuca/Reflect variants live EQ. Earthquaking on Taunt always wins, mind you. Defensive Lando-T's HP Ice is 3HKO.
Click rocks, click SD, click the hardest hitting move. Simple as that.
Faces competition from Landorus-T, which has U-turn along with HP Ice, but since Intimidate isn't necessarily needed, SD Dragon Claw/EQ chip hard and having a sac/gaining free switch due to suicide nature of Chomp, I decided to include this on the team. Also lead suicide Chomp has been a bae since early Oras.
Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
The meat of the team, Mega-Shark is here just to eat opposing mons alive. Since Psychic Fangs became a thing in Gen 7, I've had a thing for this particular mon but I never got around to build a team with it until now. 4 SpDef EVs for opposing Download users before mega evolving.
At +1, Mega-Shark outspeeds everything under and including base 90 positive nature max speed +1 (Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, scarf Exca, Mega Zam / Aero). At +2, only relevant threat outside of other positive natured base 100s at +2's (Jolly Char-X, Volc) is Hawlucha, which Zapdos checks hard. This set lacks the means to hit Mage and Heatran hard, unfortunately, but that's what the rest of the team is for.
Crunch is fairly spammable Strong Jaw-boosted STAB attack coming off from attack stat of 416, dealing 67,1 - 79,2% against 0 HP Heatran and dealing over 50% against SpDef variant, negating the need for Water STAB. Off the top of my head, Koko and Mega-Maw might be the only mons which aren't guaranteed to be 2HKOed by Crunch (assuming no hazards) while Liquidation is a guaranteed twoshot. Ice Fang for Lando-T, Zygarde etc. Keep in mind that Ice Fang hits slightly harder (around 5 HP) than Terrain boosted Fangs against Ice weak mons.
Terrain boosted Psychic Fangs, on the other hand, devours everything Crunch doesn't (bar resistances and immunities, obvs), and is the main reason for this team to exist. I just wanted to test Fangs under boosting, non-priority allowing circumstances and see how stuff works out. It hits Hawlucha, Keldeo, Amoonguss, Mega-Lopunny and -Venusaur, as well as Pex almost twice as hard as EQ (SpDef variant is a clean OHKO, while the non-existing 252HP / 252+Def has 87,5% chance to OHKO after one layer of hazards), while Terrain obviously negates priority moves from mons like Zygarde, Breloom and Infernape, along with aforementioned Mega versions of Lopunny and Pinsir as well as Medicham.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
Final member of the team. I felt like I needed electric + fire coverage, secondary ground immunity, scarf Kartana and Hawlucha resist and some sort of speed control. Fast bulky 3 attack Zapdos fits this role like a glove.
I didn't feel the need to add SpA EVs at all, since Ferro or Max HP Lando-T are never OHKOed anyway (unless Modest) and Lefties are necessary for switching into chip and bluffing more tanky, HP Iceless set. Heat Wave and HP Ice hit a lot of stuff super effectively, weakening them for Mega-Shark. Static disencourages contact move users like Kartana, Jirachi and Mega-Lopunny from spamming their neutral moves against the team (Knock off from Kart, U-turn users, Fake out etc) and Discharge is there for paralyzing non-contact mons. Originally I ran T-bolt, but the damage isn't needed at all and well, yellow magic is yellow magic.
Threatlist:
-Mega-Mawile has no switchins at all. Pre-evolved can come in on free switch against everything, since -1 Chomp doesn't OHKO it with EQ. Mega-Shark and Torn-T have no neutral move against it, Zapdos doesn't OHKO, neither does Gren, and Lele has a chance to OHKO after Rocks or a Spike, while having both up guarantees a KO with All-out. Psychic Terrain negates Sucker mind games, though.
-Dual dance / SG Mage outspeeds everything bar +1 Shark, and boltbeam murks the whole team.
-Char-Y punches holes through the whole team, even Zapdos is basically OHKOed by sun boosted Flamethrower after rocks (81.3% chance to OHKO).
-Mega-Sab is problematic to deal with if Lele goes down, which is one reason to replace Fightinium Lele with Flyinium Torn-T. CM M-Sab deals with Torn-T, though, if allowed to boost up and not getting confused.
-There's probably more, but I'm starting to get tired af.
No replays unfortunately, nor any relevant calcs. Feel free to try this, and please inform me of what's wrong with the team.
Note: Chomp is there only because I still have bias towards it, Lando-T or even lead Exca probably have way more utility and usage than Chomp, but like I said, this team is made for fun and is not supposed to be optimized for high tier play. I'm torn between Torn-T's set and any other hazard removal support, though, since I want to keep Dos as 3 attacks + roost. Replace it with whatever suits you the best. Toxic Spikes support would be super great for Shark sweep, which made me think about Tentacruel, but 3 water types might be a bit too much, and it would also add an additional Lando-T weakness.
Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
Tapu Lele @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Moonblast
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
Tapu Lele @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Moonblast
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
