The team at a glance:
It took me 20-25 games on Pokemon Showdown to reach this current lineup. At early points during testing, I tried out a Tornadus-T with U-Turn and Knock Off, and a Garchomp with Stealth Rocks and Swords Dance while a bulky Scizor ran Defog. Eventually I dropped Garchomp for an Excadrill to cover both the Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin user role so that I could change Scizor to use Choice Band. Excadrill didn't find too many opportunities to switch in and spin safely, and I lacked a hard-hitting Dragon, so I took out Excadrill and Tornadus-T, and added Latias with Defog and Landorus-I with Stealth Rock. I felt bad about replacing Tornadus since his Knock Off helped me get past a lot of tanky Pokemon, but my team was very Electric-weak after removing Garchomp. I needed something to make the opponent wary of spamming powerful Thunderbolts, so a Ground-type like Landorus-I was necessary.
The team members:
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Superpower
Unlike Rotom-W and Landorus-I, Scizor doesn't do anything fancy like messing up a wall or setting up a hazard. His main job is to poke holes in the enemy team's health with his U-Turns, and potentially remove a key item with Knock Off. If given an opportunity, he finishes off frail or weakened Pokemon with his powerful Bullet Punch. The EVs look weird, but it's a generic spread with a little extra Speed to outpace the normal spread.
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Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind
I was underestimating how strong this guy was when I started Gen 6 because of his mediocre Attack stat, but after getting torn apart by it a few times I changed my mind. Priority coming off of 120 base damage plus STAB is no joke. I was planning to run Talonflame with Flying Plate or Life Orb and use it in the early game for high damage hits to chip away at switch-ins (similar to how Gen 4/Gen 5 Physical-based Mixape forced switches, who would hit the enemy resistors with a powerful Overheat and/or Close Combat), but I haven't found myself playing it that way. I generally wait until late game to bring Talonflame in and spam Brave Bird with less worry of hitting enemy Rotom or something that can set up in the face of a Brave Bird-locked Talonflame.
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Lucario (Lucario-Mega) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Vacuum Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Nasty Plot
If the enemy team's check to specially-based Mega-Lucario is weakened to 60% Hp or less, then this guy can start to do his job. Come in on something that won't hit Lucario hard, or force an enemy switch, and use the opportunity to get 1 Nasty Plot. He'll wreak havoc even without significant coverage, typically KO'ing 1-2 Pokemon while crippling the Hp of the Pokemon that finally brings him down with a final Vacuum Wave. I was worried if I would be able to get enemy Lucario checks to low enough Hp regularly to give this guy space, but found that it's easier than I expected. With 4 members of my team using U-Turn or Volt Switch often, the Pokemon that would normally keep Lucario in check get whittled down enough to lose their ability to stop him. I personally think this Pokemon is too easy to use well, but I'm not complaining. It's a valuable member of my team, and arguably its centerpiece.
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Landorus-T (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
Landorus's first two moves hit hard, seeing as both of them get boosted by Life Orb and Sheer Force. He threatens a lot of Pokemon with 1HKO or 2HKO, and uses any of the space this gives him to set up Stealth Rock. The small damage helps slowly weaken the enemy team for an eventual Lucario sweep, but I don't mind if my opponent goes out of his way to Defog or Rapid Spin the hazard. All of my Pokemon hit very hard, and they all appreciate a free turn to wail at something spending a turn to clear a hazard.
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Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- HP Ice
- Trick
I don't know why this catches people by surprise. Maybe people expect there to be something on my team built tanky and think they'll outpace Rotom-W. I've had people leave in Pokemon like Mold Breaker Excadrill or an offensively-built Landorus or some random Flying-types, only to get OHKO'd by this blisteringly fast Rotom-W. Other than surprises, this Rotom serves as a solid pivot, and Ground-types are often scared to come in to ruin his Volt Switch because a well-timed Hydro Pump on them can be a game ender. I've had many times when I Hydro Pump'd expecting a Ground switch-in, only to be wrong, but it didn't matter because the Hydro Pump dented whatever else for 40-45%.
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Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Recover
My hazard remover. It's practically mandatory when running a 4x Rock-weak Pokemon like Talonflame. Nothing else on my team is weak to Stealth Rock, but it's still a pain for Talonflame to get at most 2 chances to switch in when they're in play. Latias doesn't struggle switching in having a handful of teammates with switch moves, most of whose weaknesses are resisted by Latias herself. I prefer Draco Meteor to Dragon Pulse because total damage over 1/2/3 turns adds up to 130/195/238 and 85/170/255 respectively, and Draco Meteor is superior except when using it 3 or more times. Recover keeps Latias healthy to switch in multiple times so she can get off several fresh Draco Meteors.
It took me 20-25 games on Pokemon Showdown to reach this current lineup. At early points during testing, I tried out a Tornadus-T with U-Turn and Knock Off, and a Garchomp with Stealth Rocks and Swords Dance while a bulky Scizor ran Defog. Eventually I dropped Garchomp for an Excadrill to cover both the Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin user role so that I could change Scizor to use Choice Band. Excadrill didn't find too many opportunities to switch in and spin safely, and I lacked a hard-hitting Dragon, so I took out Excadrill and Tornadus-T, and added Latias with Defog and Landorus-I with Stealth Rock. I felt bad about replacing Tornadus since his Knock Off helped me get past a lot of tanky Pokemon, but my team was very Electric-weak after removing Garchomp. I needed something to make the opponent wary of spamming powerful Thunderbolts, so a Ground-type like Landorus-I was necessary.
The team members:
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Superpower
Unlike Rotom-W and Landorus-I, Scizor doesn't do anything fancy like messing up a wall or setting up a hazard. His main job is to poke holes in the enemy team's health with his U-Turns, and potentially remove a key item with Knock Off. If given an opportunity, he finishes off frail or weakened Pokemon with his powerful Bullet Punch. The EVs look weird, but it's a generic spread with a little extra Speed to outpace the normal spread.
-----
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind
I was underestimating how strong this guy was when I started Gen 6 because of his mediocre Attack stat, but after getting torn apart by it a few times I changed my mind. Priority coming off of 120 base damage plus STAB is no joke. I was planning to run Talonflame with Flying Plate or Life Orb and use it in the early game for high damage hits to chip away at switch-ins (similar to how Gen 4/Gen 5 Physical-based Mixape forced switches, who would hit the enemy resistors with a powerful Overheat and/or Close Combat), but I haven't found myself playing it that way. I generally wait until late game to bring Talonflame in and spam Brave Bird with less worry of hitting enemy Rotom or something that can set up in the face of a Brave Bird-locked Talonflame.
-----
Lucario (Lucario-Mega) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Vacuum Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Nasty Plot
If the enemy team's check to specially-based Mega-Lucario is weakened to 60% Hp or less, then this guy can start to do his job. Come in on something that won't hit Lucario hard, or force an enemy switch, and use the opportunity to get 1 Nasty Plot. He'll wreak havoc even without significant coverage, typically KO'ing 1-2 Pokemon while crippling the Hp of the Pokemon that finally brings him down with a final Vacuum Wave. I was worried if I would be able to get enemy Lucario checks to low enough Hp regularly to give this guy space, but found that it's easier than I expected. With 4 members of my team using U-Turn or Volt Switch often, the Pokemon that would normally keep Lucario in check get whittled down enough to lose their ability to stop him. I personally think this Pokemon is too easy to use well, but I'm not complaining. It's a valuable member of my team, and arguably its centerpiece.
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Landorus-T (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
Landorus's first two moves hit hard, seeing as both of them get boosted by Life Orb and Sheer Force. He threatens a lot of Pokemon with 1HKO or 2HKO, and uses any of the space this gives him to set up Stealth Rock. The small damage helps slowly weaken the enemy team for an eventual Lucario sweep, but I don't mind if my opponent goes out of his way to Defog or Rapid Spin the hazard. All of my Pokemon hit very hard, and they all appreciate a free turn to wail at something spending a turn to clear a hazard.
-----
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- HP Ice
- Trick
I don't know why this catches people by surprise. Maybe people expect there to be something on my team built tanky and think they'll outpace Rotom-W. I've had people leave in Pokemon like Mold Breaker Excadrill or an offensively-built Landorus or some random Flying-types, only to get OHKO'd by this blisteringly fast Rotom-W. Other than surprises, this Rotom serves as a solid pivot, and Ground-types are often scared to come in to ruin his Volt Switch because a well-timed Hydro Pump on them can be a game ender. I've had many times when I Hydro Pump'd expecting a Ground switch-in, only to be wrong, but it didn't matter because the Hydro Pump dented whatever else for 40-45%.
-----
Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Recover
My hazard remover. It's practically mandatory when running a 4x Rock-weak Pokemon like Talonflame. Nothing else on my team is weak to Stealth Rock, but it's still a pain for Talonflame to get at most 2 chances to switch in when they're in play. Latias doesn't struggle switching in having a handful of teammates with switch moves, most of whose weaknesses are resisted by Latias herself. I prefer Draco Meteor to Dragon Pulse because total damage over 1/2/3 turns adds up to 130/195/238 and 85/170/255 respectively, and Draco Meteor is superior except when using it 3 or more times. Recover keeps Latias healthy to switch in multiple times so she can get off several fresh Draco Meteors.
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