Hi,
ORAS is by far my favorite generation and I’ve been building a lot of teams for it lately. I played XRAY a while back and he used a cool core of Serp+Volcarona which seemed very strong. I wanted to try to make my own team using the two and came up with a very fun and aggressive team that’s pretty unique compared to what I typically build. Ive mostly been testing it on ladder and in room tours and it seems pretty good so far but feel free to let me know what you think.
Serperior @ Coba Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 208 HP / 48 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Taunt
- Glare
Serperior is one of the scariest pokemon to face on team preview because it can easily cripple or run coverage to beat any of its counters. This Serperior is a bit of an odd set, Leaf-Storm is what allows it to easily snowball vs slower or weakened teams but it also pressures an immediate response. Many checks to Serp are faster offensive threats which makes glare imperative as it can permanently cripple these pokemon. For this particular team the main targets are things that would threaten a +1 Volcarona, this would mainly be Tornadus-T and Talonflame. This set specifically runs the rarely seen Coba Berry so it can guarantee a glare on the fliers without having to catch them on switch in. It will often be the case where Torn will U-Turn out to not allow Diancie a free switch but landing a glare on something unexpected can put them in an even worse position. HP Rock is to KO Talonflame or M-Pinsir after a leafstorm and tanking a flying move, because they can threaten Volcarona even after paralysis due to strong flying type priority. Taunt is a great addition as another layer of hazard prevention as well as keeping something like Lum dragonite from getting out of hand.
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
If Serp is scary then Volcarona is terrifying. Even prepared teams can easily fall victim if given a single free turn. QD is what makes volc scary, with a paralysis and a sub, torn is flipped from a check to set up fodder. Sub allows it to abuse glare to the maximum while also dodging the myriad of twave mons that plague the tier. With Sub even things like Rotom-w, or a paralyzed Tyranitar can become set up fodder. With 4 forms of hazard prevention it also becomes an important Scizor check. It is important to keep volc somewhat healthy if facing scizor as it can run through this team with volc taken out. A bulkier spread was given to allow bigger substitutes and better handle offensive M-Scizor.
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
M-Diancie is a great partner to the previous two as it is one of the hardest punishers to your opponent clicking an Ill-advised flying type move in desperation to take out Serp or Volc. The set and spread is pretty basic, as a tip: most teams will instinctively lead a diancie counter to take advantage of you trying to get an early mega off, if you notice their only rocker being something that beats diancie anyways (like jirachi or a full health excadrill) its better to lead a counter lead to get an early momentum boost
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 32 HP / 56 Def / 168 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Even with taunt serp and M-Diancie, Volcarona requires hazard removal. Im a believer that excadrill is the only good hazard removal in the tier. Excadrill also provides a needed electric immunity as well as a way to mess with zapdos which can be very obnoxious since even with HP rock it can beat serp, is immune to glare, and can break volcs sub while spreading paralysis. Balloon is another interesting choice that was added later on. This type of team felt a little restrictive in what it needed to flow consistently, which created a glaring (no pun intended) ground weakness that was impossible to ignore. The most threatening being an opposing scarf mold-breaker excadrill or excadrill in sand, whose earthquake was only resisted by serperior. Since the team exerts such offensive pressure excadrill rarely gets free switches in without having to sack something first which allows for one time checks like balloon driller to work more effectively. It is imperative in these matchups though to keep balloon in tact or else scarf drill can easily run through the team. Sand rush driller is typically less threatening as tyranitar is beaten by 5/6 mons on the team and is typically forced to be sacked at some point.
Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Defog
- Trick
Although the team so far was not slow, it still folded under fast offensive threats like M-Zam and M-Lop, when deciding a scarfer I realized that an emergency hazard removal would be extremely beneficial as the team is very weak if hazards are put up. Latias was the initial answer as healing wish seemed like a natural addition. In practice I felt that it was too weak to revenge kill and healing wish was not useful enough. Thus, it was replaced with its more offensive counterpart. Latios retains the ability to be a 1-2 time switch into keldeo and volcanion while also being able to revenge manaphy more effectively than latias. Trick gives another option for a set up opportunity, and surf gives an option to outspeed and smack adamant excadrill in sand. Dropping psyshock seems a little shaky but Draco revenge kills all that it needs while surf gives the most important coverage against the ground types (and heatran) that threaten the team.
Cobalion @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 144 HP / 112 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
The last spot was tasked with a lot. Look at weavile, then look at previous 5, then look at bisharp, then look at the previous 5. So I was looking for something that reliably switched into the former two. While Diancie can be a rocker, I really enjoyed the reliability that protect gave it to get off its mega. With such limitations, Cobalion seemed like the perfect fit. Shuca Berry is used as another one time way to take a earthquake and is especially nice since it can catch an excadrill off guard and score an easy KO. Volt switch turns Cobalion into a pivot for the other threatening attackers, while having a secondary way to hit clefable is very important since excadrill doesn’t want to give up its balloon for a 2hko. Obviously this adds another ground weakness but that seemed to be more easily patchable than letting bisharp or weavile go unchecked. I did experiment with Rotom-W that had enough speed to get a fast wisp on bisharp paired alongside rocks Diancie but it didn’t give a reliable enough check to banded Weavile. As a tip: Since cobalion invites in Lando and Garchomp, it can be more beneficial to double out after tanking a hit instead of getting up rocks as a positional advantage for this team is typically much more beneficial than the extra damage that rocks can add.
This team does have a few weaknesses defensively but due to the nature of running a combination of frail offensive threats that demand specific characteristics in teammates, the options seemed a little rigid. I do find that almost any threat can be outplayed if you can recognize them and leverage the offensive pressure the team provides. It’s a very fun team that has scored me some nice wins and seems consistent enough. Very open to suggestions or changes!
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6ou-2539824969?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6ou-2539833085
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6ou-2539827474
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6ou-2539837950?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6ou-2539632761-vd1qaku45u1qkomqcm3c0fl8hj7v7acpw
Last edited:
