first of all, wanted to start by thanking you guys for hosting this; I didn't think I'd make it this far, but I've looked forward to every new round and had tons of fun. I hope you guys have enjoyed reading all the rates and this one doesn't let you down!
Mega Latios's versatile movepool and good offensive prowess makes it one of the best Mega Evolutions in the tier, and this is a very solid hazard stacking build around it. This team features some successful trends that make it good: a reliable defensive core of Ferrothorn + Clefable and a Pokemon which some have deemed too powerful for OU in Zygarde. However, although this team definitely has a lot of potential, there are some tweaks you can make in order to maximize its potential.
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Let's start out with some specific
threats to your team; this will help us pinpoint the weak links in the team and help more with suggestions later on.
Psychic spam is a huge problem for your team. Ferrothorn is the only Steel-type in the team that can take a Psychic from both
Mega Alakazam and
Tapu Lele. Weavile is outsped by Mega Alakazam and risks a wrong prediction against Tapu Lele. Seeing how common Mega Alakazam is currently, the team definitely needs a backup option against it.
Similar to Psychic spam, Grass spam can become quite problematic for your team too.
Tapu Bulu can set up against Clefable and Toxapex, forcing Mega Latios and/or Weavile to come in to handle it. The problem is that with Mega Latios and Ferrothorn weakened,
Kartana has no problem sweeping late game with some chip damage or a boost under its belt.
The Steel-type on your team is Ferrothorn, meaning that you possess no Flying resist.
Tornadus-T spams Hurricane against the entire team, and with some good timing and pivoting, can put you in a problematic situation very quickly if you don't keep Toxapex healthy to status it.
Celesteela is a huge nuisance because it completely walls your defensive backbone, while Latios, Zygarde, and Weavile are all annoyed by Leech Seed + Heavy Slam. It gets to spam Leech Seed and then switch out to something like Landorus-T, for example, when you try to take advantage of it with Zygarde.
Mega Mawile's huge base Attack and good typing can beat your team after just one SD if Zygarde is removed. Not much to say here, as it can boost up against both Clefable and Ferrothorn and proceed to wreak havoc.
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With these threats in mind, here are my
suggestions to improve your team.
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When closely studying your team, Toxapex invites in many of these aforementioned threats, and I believe it's the weak link of your team. For example:
1) Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele take easy advantage of it
2) Tapu Bulu, Kartana, and Mega Mawile beat it if Toxapex doesn't Scald burn them
3) Tornadus-T can remove its item and spam Hurricane, only really fearing Toxic (which it can Regen)
4) Celesteela can spam Leech Seed easily against it
Unlike Toxapex,
Heatran:
1) Provides you with a secondary Psychic resist
2) Beats all Grass-types and Mega Mawile bar switching into Fighting-type coverage
3) Doesn't mind any attack from Tornadus-T (Superpower is rare)
4) Beats Celesteela
and, in addition, its Z-Move provides your team with higher offensive capabilities while covering Pokemon that Toxapex checks, such as Mega Scizor, Clefable, and Fire-types, while maintaining Toxic to status other Pokemon. Lastly, Ferrothorn + Clefable + Heatran is a very potent backbone that's seen in a big amount of Mega Latios hazard stacking due to their defensive synergy. Heatran appreciates Clefable's Wish passing, and Heatran can break Steel-types for Clefable in return.
Choice Band > WP
I know that you wanted the team to be built around Weakness Policy Zygarde, but I think that
Choice Band will benefit from your team more. Choice Band provides extremely consistent damage output, and with Wish on Clefable, you can maintain Zygarde healthy throughout the match. The point behind Choice Band on this build is to spam hazards alongside Thousand Arrows on annoiyng Pokemon to your team like Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Torn-T, weakening them enough to where Mega Latios can come in and clean late-game. Weavile helps to remove threats to Zygarde like the Mega Eon twins, allowing CB Zygarde to spam Thousand Arrows easier. CB also makes up more for your lack of a Choice Scarf user due to its increased damage output.
Ice Beam > Hidden Power Fire
Now that Heatran was added to the team,
Ice Beam helps you beat Ground-type boosters like Zygarde and Gliscor. Hidden Power Fire was primarily used for Kartana, which Ice Beam still OHKOes, and although you don't hit Ferrothorn as hard, you can use opposing Ferrothorn to hazard stack and bring in your own Heatran. Ice Beam also gives you the addition of hitting opposing Mega Eon twins, which can pose a problem if you can't trap them.
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(click me)
Not too many changes this time around, but I do firmly believe that the changes made benefit your team more than they hinder it, and you had a really solid team to begin with. The idea behind the team is to use Weavile to trap fast threats like Mega Lati@s, follow it up by setting up hazards to spam Banded Thousand Arrows and Heatran's Z-Move, and then come in late-game with Mega Latios to clean up.
The team isn't without flaws, however. Watch out for
, as you have to keep Ferrothorn healthy throughout the match to counter it.
is still a big threat, but luckily CB Extreme Speed does more damage to it, it doesn’t come in freely on much, and you can pressure it more with Heatran than Toxapex. Lastly,
can be really annoying with Fairium Z + Focus Blast, so play aggressively around it and don't let it come in freely against Clefable or Weavile.
Hope I was able to help you out with the team; enjoy it!
