Volt-turn has traditionally been my favorite playstyle, along with offense. The ability to keep up pressure, force mindgames with 'Is Lando-T going for the EQ, or is he just going to u-turn out?' and the ability to constantly stay in the favorable matchup is amazing. So, I present you this team.
Mega-Man (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
Mega-Manectric has a blistering 135 speed after it megas, and a respectable 105 before. This means there is no unboosted pokemon in the metagame that can outspeed it after it megas. The moveset is the 'bread and butter' set that most mega-Manectric run. Volt-switch is the mandatory switching move, while thunderbolt is stronger move and for when mega-Manectric wants to stay in. Hidden power ice is required for all of the 4x ice weak pokemon that can come in to block volt-switch, such as Gliscor, Landorus, and Garchomp. Flamethrower is there, as the rest of my team really lacks fire coverage, and hits Scizor hard to prevent the u-turn. The EV's are self-explanatory - Keep the amazing 135 speed tier, and hit as hard as possible.
Muh Rox (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
The second part of my intimidate core: Scarfed Landorus-Therian. Base 145 attack hurts, and the intimidate buffers what looks to be unimpressive bulk. Being scarfed also means that Landorus-T can usually U-turn out or kill a pokemon before it can get hit. Earthquake is a STAB that, while is risky to use, can easily close out weakened teams that no longer have a ground-immune pokemon. Stone edge is the move to use against flying types. Knock off is a spammable move, and knock off a choice item can limit offensive pokemon, while knocking off leftovers hurts the recovery of a wall. U-turn is the pivot move, and can do massive damage to Greninja, a common lead this generation. I run Jolly instead of Adamant on Landorus for a few reasons. The first is that Jolly outpaces Timid Scarf Rotom-Wash, instead of eating a hydro-pump (You can tell if a Rotom is scarfed easily, as U-turn does ~30% instead of ~20%.) Furthermore, Jolly Landorus-T ties with other scarfed Jolly Landorus-T.
Skyzor (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- U-turn
Scizor has an excellent typing: only weak to fire. Reasonable 70/100/80 bulk, when complemented with the steel/bug typing, allows Scizor to switch into moves that the rest of the team would be hesitant to do so. Technician, STAB bullet punch provides strong priority and is rather self-explanatory. Superpower can punish switches into pokemon such as Heatran or Ferrothorn, and u-turn is a STAB, slow switching move. I used pursuit over knock off due to personal preference. Pursuit has fallen in popularity on Scizor, to be replaced with the more spammable knock off, and many Lati@s think that they can switch freely off Scizor. While Hidden Power Fire is commonplace for Latios, Latias usually do not run it, and Scizor can easily pick it off.
Muh Burd Spam (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 68 SpA / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
Zapdos is the pokemon that takes hits for the team. It is a hard counter to a lot of the flying spam in the tier, such as Talonflame and Mega-Pinsir. While Mega-Manectric can do the same in a pinch, Zapdos has reliable recovery in roost, and the ability to remove hazards, something paramount on a team with volt-turn and a Talonflame. I use U-turn over the stronger STAB volt-switch on Zapdos, because it becomes fodder for many ground types, and hard switching loses me momentum. The above EV's are to outspeed adamant Bisharp, and to guarantee the OHKO on mega-Pinsir with Thunderbolt. The rest of the EV's are dumped into HP and Defense to take hits better. A Bold nature is used to avoid compromising bulk, and to keep the Bisharp speed creep. U-turn was never there to do damage :P
Alan Flame (Talonflame) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Sleep Talk
- U-turn
Banded Talonflame can easily clean up weakened teams. I usually do not send this guy out early, and conserve him, unless there is something that NEEDS attention. Brave bird and Flare Blitz are self-explanatory. U-turn is as well. Sleep talk is something not usually seen on Talonflame, and Tailwind is usually used in it's place. I found that using Brave Bird was always better than using Tailwind 100% of the time (and banded tailwind lol), so I used Sleep Talk. When against something like a Smeargle or Breloom, I would lead with Landorus and U-turn to break the sash, and then switch to Talonflame (and pray Breloom didn't rock tomb). The Sleep talk would either switch me out (with breloom having some 5 or 10%, or simply kill with flare blitz or brave bird. The EV's are max Attack and Speed, with an adamant nature to squeeze out every bit of attack I can get. 252 Speed EV's still let me outspeed positive natured base 110's and lower, so I use that instead of extra bulk to brave bird more. Also has the benefit of speed tieing with other talonflame.
Shed Shell? (Gothitelle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Taunt
- Rest
This slot was previously held by Banded-Staraptor, which was my go-to against stall. I started experimenting with Gothitelle, and it can snipe targets in both Stall and Balanced, victims including the pink blobs Chansey and Blissey, the other pink blob Slowbro. Calm mind lets it boost SpA and SpD, and makes moves such as Slowbro's scald do successively less, and getting the power to kill the Blobs. Psychic is my STAB of choice, over psyshock as it hits pokemon such as Skarmory harder. With taunt, I am already guaranteed the kill on blissey and chansey anyways, so I prefer the extra power psychic provides. Taunt is used on Gothitelle over the other option, Trick room, as Goth's main alternative to the 'free slot', as it can be used on pokemon such as skarmory or heatran after I get my boosts, and prevent them from phazing goth out. Rest is used, as it gives it recovery. Seismic toss is a 5HKO after leftovers recovery, so I can easily have a rest/calm mind cycle, and even PP stall out seismic toss with taunt. Of course, this set has no ability to hit dark types, but they are not the target.
Mega-Man (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
Mega-Manectric has a blistering 135 speed after it megas, and a respectable 105 before. This means there is no unboosted pokemon in the metagame that can outspeed it after it megas. The moveset is the 'bread and butter' set that most mega-Manectric run. Volt-switch is the mandatory switching move, while thunderbolt is stronger move and for when mega-Manectric wants to stay in. Hidden power ice is required for all of the 4x ice weak pokemon that can come in to block volt-switch, such as Gliscor, Landorus, and Garchomp. Flamethrower is there, as the rest of my team really lacks fire coverage, and hits Scizor hard to prevent the u-turn. The EV's are self-explanatory - Keep the amazing 135 speed tier, and hit as hard as possible.
Muh Rox (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
The second part of my intimidate core: Scarfed Landorus-Therian. Base 145 attack hurts, and the intimidate buffers what looks to be unimpressive bulk. Being scarfed also means that Landorus-T can usually U-turn out or kill a pokemon before it can get hit. Earthquake is a STAB that, while is risky to use, can easily close out weakened teams that no longer have a ground-immune pokemon. Stone edge is the move to use against flying types. Knock off is a spammable move, and knock off a choice item can limit offensive pokemon, while knocking off leftovers hurts the recovery of a wall. U-turn is the pivot move, and can do massive damage to Greninja, a common lead this generation. I run Jolly instead of Adamant on Landorus for a few reasons. The first is that Jolly outpaces Timid Scarf Rotom-Wash, instead of eating a hydro-pump (You can tell if a Rotom is scarfed easily, as U-turn does ~30% instead of ~20%.) Furthermore, Jolly Landorus-T ties with other scarfed Jolly Landorus-T.
Skyzor (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- U-turn
Scizor has an excellent typing: only weak to fire. Reasonable 70/100/80 bulk, when complemented with the steel/bug typing, allows Scizor to switch into moves that the rest of the team would be hesitant to do so. Technician, STAB bullet punch provides strong priority and is rather self-explanatory. Superpower can punish switches into pokemon such as Heatran or Ferrothorn, and u-turn is a STAB, slow switching move. I used pursuit over knock off due to personal preference. Pursuit has fallen in popularity on Scizor, to be replaced with the more spammable knock off, and many Lati@s think that they can switch freely off Scizor. While Hidden Power Fire is commonplace for Latios, Latias usually do not run it, and Scizor can easily pick it off.
Muh Burd Spam (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 68 SpA / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
Zapdos is the pokemon that takes hits for the team. It is a hard counter to a lot of the flying spam in the tier, such as Talonflame and Mega-Pinsir. While Mega-Manectric can do the same in a pinch, Zapdos has reliable recovery in roost, and the ability to remove hazards, something paramount on a team with volt-turn and a Talonflame. I use U-turn over the stronger STAB volt-switch on Zapdos, because it becomes fodder for many ground types, and hard switching loses me momentum. The above EV's are to outspeed adamant Bisharp, and to guarantee the OHKO on mega-Pinsir with Thunderbolt. The rest of the EV's are dumped into HP and Defense to take hits better. A Bold nature is used to avoid compromising bulk, and to keep the Bisharp speed creep. U-turn was never there to do damage :P
Alan Flame (Talonflame) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Sleep Talk
- U-turn
Banded Talonflame can easily clean up weakened teams. I usually do not send this guy out early, and conserve him, unless there is something that NEEDS attention. Brave bird and Flare Blitz are self-explanatory. U-turn is as well. Sleep talk is something not usually seen on Talonflame, and Tailwind is usually used in it's place. I found that using Brave Bird was always better than using Tailwind 100% of the time (and banded tailwind lol), so I used Sleep Talk. When against something like a Smeargle or Breloom, I would lead with Landorus and U-turn to break the sash, and then switch to Talonflame (and pray Breloom didn't rock tomb). The Sleep talk would either switch me out (with breloom having some 5 or 10%, or simply kill with flare blitz or brave bird. The EV's are max Attack and Speed, with an adamant nature to squeeze out every bit of attack I can get. 252 Speed EV's still let me outspeed positive natured base 110's and lower, so I use that instead of extra bulk to brave bird more. Also has the benefit of speed tieing with other talonflame.
Shed Shell? (Gothitelle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Taunt
- Rest
This slot was previously held by Banded-Staraptor, which was my go-to against stall. I started experimenting with Gothitelle, and it can snipe targets in both Stall and Balanced, victims including the pink blobs Chansey and Blissey, the other pink blob Slowbro. Calm mind lets it boost SpA and SpD, and makes moves such as Slowbro's scald do successively less, and getting the power to kill the Blobs. Psychic is my STAB of choice, over psyshock as it hits pokemon such as Skarmory harder. With taunt, I am already guaranteed the kill on blissey and chansey anyways, so I prefer the extra power psychic provides. Taunt is used on Gothitelle over the other option, Trick room, as Goth's main alternative to the 'free slot', as it can be used on pokemon such as skarmory or heatran after I get my boosts, and prevent them from phazing goth out. Rest is used, as it gives it recovery. Seismic toss is a 5HKO after leftovers recovery, so I can easily have a rest/calm mind cycle, and even PP stall out seismic toss with taunt. Of course, this set has no ability to hit dark types, but they are not the target.
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