just some observations
BoltBeam Mega Metagross
Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Pursuit / Hammer Arm
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
This is the most common Mega Metagross set I use, with Pursuit being the more flexible slot on most teams, but usually standard on my teams. You can run Zen Headbutt, Grass Knot, Earthquake, etc. I honestly don't really care for Zen Headbutt on Metagross since it only hits a small selection of threats it's other coverage moves can't hit, which branches mostly to Rotom-W and more niche things. The BoltBeam combination is incredibly potent right now, since it gives it the ability to slice through most balance incredibly easily especially those concerning Mega Latias, Skarmory, Defensive Landorus-T, etc. Pursuit is one of the best moves right now since it lets it actually get it's bang for it's buck when you use it as a Lati switch-in, which is incredibly helpful on a bevy of teams. Hammer Arm is for those sticklers who care about being not walled by Ferrothorn, but I'd rather if a teammates did that instead seeing as how it isn't too hard to even lure or beat.
AV Tangrowth
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Earthquake / Shock Wave
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Fire]
AV Tangrowth is pretty amazing right now since it just doesn't die. It just won't. The Physically Defense set has gotten a ton of hype for it's insane bulk, but imho AV is still the best overall set. Despite not being heavily invested into it's impressive Defense, it still has the capacity to sponge things like Mega Diancie's Diamond Storm fully invested and it's Rash Moonblast tickles it. It even still expertly checks LO Excadrill and the current shift of more Jolly than Adamant variants only helps it breathe easier. Overall it's an amazing glue for teams that need a multipurpose check to fast electrics, sand, Serperior, Garchomp, Keldeo, etc. while still maintaining nice offensive presence. Hidden Power [Fire] is the usual filler since it makes Mega Scizor think twice about using it as fodder and Ferrothorn gets denied free Stealth Rock / Spikes. Shock Wave is a decent at best filler since it gives you a Fighting chance against ChestoResto Gyarados who could just eat a Leaf Storm and proceed to setup, underrated threat btw.
Stallbreaker Hydreigon
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 216 HP / 104 SpA / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor / Earth Power / Fire Blast
- Roost
- Taunt / Thunder Wave
Hydreigon is awesome, don't ever let anymore tell you different. Instead of posting a generic goon set with Dark Pulse / Flash Cannon / Draco Meteor / Filler, I'm instead posting a spread I created when I saw more potential in Hydreigon than being a mindless attacker. 216 HP gives Hydreigon a Life Orb number as well as a considerable amount of bulk. 188 Spe was invested to outrun Heatran at the most, to deny it Stealth Rock or a quick Toxic, and the rest were simply dumped into SpA to give it a considerable boost in power. Thunder Wave is also a lovely alternative that lets you cripple the few counters Hydreigon has. The way this set is used is for Hydreigon to abuse it's incredible and unique defensive typing to function as a bulky stallbreaker with access to Roost + Taunt and check to things like Mega Manectric, certain Manaphy variants, Mega Gyarados without Ice Fang, etc. I find it a waste to make use of Hydreigon's awkward Speed tier, while the true beauty of it is in the vast utility it can bring to a team. And for the record, Choice Scarf variants are usually not worth the team slot enough if you want to improve your matchup against offense. Being locked into Draco Meteor / Dark Pulse is really suboptimal since it forces you out a ton right now and Terrakion getting a free +1 since you're locked into Dark Pulse means you practically lose the game, please don't use it. Offensive variants beside the one I provided are still a-okay.
Stallbreaker Jellicent
Jellicent @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 172 SpD / 88 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
- Recover
Jellicent has really started to receive recognition as a pretty hard counter to Volcanion. The set I provided is a standard Stallbreaker set that I received from
gamer boy,which gives your Jellicent a pretty spectacular matchup against stall while being able to "burn" Sableye with Scald. A Colbur Berry is a nice item for it, especially since most Volcanion squads are packing a Pursuit Trapper and a Colbur Berry allows Jellicent to take an unboosted Pursuit with ease and retaliate with Will-O-Wisp to render them useless. Toxic is an option however, if you'd rather have some shape or form of damage to inflict on Volcanion, otherwise it's a stalemate between the two.
Calm Mind Mega Latias
Latias @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Stored Power
- Calm Mind
- Roost
Calm Mind Mega Latias is by far my favorite set to use. I originally saw this set from a few teams
p2 posted around on the forums, and I have to say it intrigued me. After formulating a team around it, it put in but the finest work. Surf is for being able to break past Heatran, Tyranitar, and other Steel / Dark-types not named Ferrothorn relatively early game without being forced to accumulate boosts from Calm Mind. Stored Power becomes a monstrously strong move after but a few boosts, allowing it to blow past a multitude of teams after their best checks towards it have been weakened or eliminated. Thunder Wave sets are pretty pitiful imo, since they don't use Mega Latias to it's full potential as a Calm Mind set or even Reflect Type would be. If you wanted a Thunder Wave spreader there are tons of other options you could use, even Latios could pull it off.
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My final observation is that bulky offense is truly the best playstyle right now without a doubt. It has the absolute best matchup against a large variety of teams, more so than what stall or balance can secure. Reason being bulky offense maintains offense presence while utilizing relatively bulky pivots that either hit rather hard or offers methods of momentum through U-Turn, Volt Switch, and Baton Pass. They also give you some kind of countermeasure to the vast amount of threats in ORAS, so vast they realistically can't be covered in only 6 teamslots, there's always going to be something that gives you a hard time, which generally gets the best of stall and more passive balance builds. Before I go further however, make note of how I said
countermeasure and not check / counter. There's no way you can counter each and everything in the entire metagame, but without countermeasures you can always manage most threats to your team without being a direct check or counter. A great example being Specs Hoopa-U before it's ban. Offensive teams had no switch-in whatsoever towards it, but they usually had sufficient counter measures which usually equated towards priority, faster Pokemon, Pursuit, etc. Going on, bulky offense also maintains enough offensive prescecne where the threats they can't handle defensively are able to be managed offensively and vice versa. Hyper offense is about maintaining constant pressure on opposing archetypes, which leaves a ton of them at the "mercy" of the power that most HO teams pack as eventually balance or stall will end up toppling over, in other words "If you keep pounding at a brick wall, eventually it will fall." But the flaw with HO is that it's *somewhat* matchup dependent, especially against other offensive teams as their own pressure can outweigh the pressure they exert themselves or in the case bulky offense, be absorbed by pivots such as Slowbro, Heatran, Mega Latias, etc who all still exert pressure one way or another.
In a ranking of playstyles in my mind i'd go like this: bulky offense
-> hyper offense
-> balance
-> stall
It's rather subjective since some may say that balance is better than hyper offense, stall is better than balance, etc. and I guess I could say this is more ranked by popularity than which is better, but I believe it's somewhat accurate.
tl:dr - I've been saying this for quite some time now, but bulky offense is the absolute best offense for consistency.