ORAS OU Piano Man (Rock Polish Mega Metagross Offense)

[EndlessGadgets]

Piano Man
by Endless Gadgets

Introduction:

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Hello everyone! My name is EndlessGadgets (Erupquake24 on PS!). I have been battling competitively for a while, but I never got around to creating a Smogon forums account until now. I have been working hard on this team and decided to create this account to ask for opinions and help on a team I have been using for the last two weeks. I am not the best battler, so I have only peaked around 1350. This team has gone through many changes, as I will explain down below. At this point I'm familiar with it, but I was hoping to get some fresh eyes and minds to help me out. With that out of the way, onto Teambuilding!

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Teambuilding:​

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I started out with an offensive core of Choice Band Victini and Nasty Plot Thundurus-I. I knew I wanted the power of V-Create for wallbreaking. Thundurus-I pairs well, despite the Stealth Rock weakness, for providing speed control via T-Wave to allow Victini to hit faster threats hard. It also provided me with a wincon against the worn-down team.

The SR weakness was plain as day and bulky ground types were an obvious problem, so I added Analytic LO Starmie. This thing's Hydro Pumps and Ice Beams demolish rock and ground types and Rapid Spin is invaluable on this team. I also added Scarfchomp because I wanted a fast ground type as a switch in to Volt Switch and rock-type moves, and the utility of Rough Skin was nice against Bisharp, which the team struggled against, and U-Turn.

Next I added Suicide Spiker Froslass for Spikes, D-Bond, and a very fast Ice Beam. I then decided to add Standard DD Mega Altaria as another win condition and as a switch-in to dragon- and dark-type moves. After playing about 15 battles, I noticed dark and ghost types were huge problems and my lack of priority let set-up sweepers destroy me. I also noticed that Victini would faint quickly and could be easily played around by a good player.

By the suggestion of my good friend, I swapped Victini for CB Entei and my team instantly became better. While lacking the power of V-Create, Sacred Fire still dealt huge damage. It was also much harder to play around thanks to its (stupid) 50% burn chance and lack of stat drops afterwards. ExtremeSpeed also proved immensely useful, saving me from Mega Pinsirs, Mega Alakazams, and BD Azumarills.

At this point, Froslass was quickly becoming dead weight, especially as I begin to play better players. The rock and dark weaknesses on my team were also becoming problematic, so I decided to replace it with Expert Belt Terrakion. It was a powerful wallbreaker and could usually set up Stealth Rocks two to three times a match if necessary. In addition to Stealth Rock, Close Combat, and Stone Edge, I ran Poison Jab to give me a second way to hit fairies, along with Entei's Iron Head.

As I continued to playtest, I started to notice Mega Altaria not putting in as much work as it was lower on the ladder. Its damage output was no longer as spectacular, especially as better players gave me fewer and fewer setup opportunities. After toying around with Mega Pinsir and Mega Gardevoir, I settled on Mega Metagross as my new mega. Not only was its damage output enormous but it was virtually unstoppable with a Rock Polish up. It also had great defensive synergy with the team, providing dragon and fairy resists I desperately needed.

This is the current iteration of the team. Recently I started to notice that Thundurus's speed control wasn't needed as much anymore and that NP sweeping with it wasn't happening very often. I tried out Rotom-Wash and Heliolisk as electric-types, but I finally settled on Sub CM Raikou. It provided me with an even faster electric-type and another win condition. It also gave me a way to break stall as it can easily set up and sweep many stall teams. Without Thundurus, I clearly needed a ground immunity and Terrakion was the least important member of the team. Skarmory filled in its role as a Stealth Rocker as well as giving a ground immunity. It still functioned as a good switch-in to dark-type moves as most of them, especially in OU, are physical.

The Team​

GIII (Entei) @ Choice Band
Shiny: Yes
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge
- Bulldoze/Iron Head
CB Entei is my primary physical wallbreaker. Banded Sacred Fire hits like a truck, and its 50% burn chance and lack of stat drops makes up for the loss of power from switching out Victini for Entei. Extreme Speed gives my team much needed priority for picking off weakened Pokémon and stopping set-up sweepers cold. Stone Edge is a strong coverage move that hits Fire resists hard. I run Bulldoze for Heatran, but I’ve also run Iron Head for Fairies. Both work equally well, I just prefer Bulldoze.
Within the team itself, Entei is important for taking out the bulky Steels that stop Mega Metagross and the bulky Grass-types that stop Raikou. Entei is stopped by bulky waters, who Raikou takes care of, and Dragons, which I have plenty of other answers to. The holes Entei punches in the opposing team and the burns it spreads around are vital, as they weaken the opponent enough for Mega Metagross or Garchomp to sweep.

Chaac (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Shiny: Yes
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Substitute/Thunder Wave
SubCM Raikou is one of my win conditions and my main way to take out bulky waters. It also functions as my stallbreaker, as the combination of Sub and Calm Mind plus its near perfect coverage lets it defeat stall easily. Thunderbolt and HP Ice provide near perfect neutral coverage with just two moves. Leftovers are for passive recovery and combo well with Substitute. When I replaced Thundurus with Raikou, I found my team to struggle more with stall, so I swapped Thunder Wave for Substitute on the current moveset.
Raikou is stopped by Ground- and Grass-types (who aren’t 4x weak to Ice), but Starmie and Entei defeat each of them, respectively. My team in general has extreme difficulty with bulky waters, so Raikou systematically eliminating is very important in the early-to-mid game.

Nohochacyum (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Gender: Male
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Naive
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Outrage/Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Poison Jab
Choice Scarf Garchomp is my favorite variant of my favorite Pokémon, and it fits into the team seamlessly. Garchomp performs many roles on the team, taking pressure off of my other mons who would need to fill these instead. It is a great revenge killer, wallbreaker, late game cleaner, and overall offensive powerhouse. It is also my main switch-in to Electric-types, outspeeding and KOing them before they can hit it with HP Ice. Earthquake and Outrage are great dual STABs. I run Outrage over Dragon Claw because I found Dragon Claw’s power underwhelming without any boosts and I have plenty of answers to Fairy-types, so giving them a free switch-in isn’t the end of the world. Fire Blast is for Skarmory, hence the Naive nature over Jolly, and Poison Jab hits Fairies trying to switch into my Outrages. Garchomp forms a great core with Skarmory, with both of them covering each other’s weaknesses very well. Garchomp also pairs well offensively with Entei and Mega Metagross as they share similar checks and can weaken them for each other to clean up later.

Chicchan (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Shiny: Yes
Ability: Analytic
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
LO Analytic Starmie is my special wallbreaker. Hydro Pump hits most things that don’t resist it hard very hard, and Analytic makes it even harder for things to switch in. Psychic provides a strong secondary STAB to hit Fighting- and Poison-types and to take out mons without risking a miss. Ice Beam provides good coverage for Grass- and Dragon-types and Rapid Spin removes hazards, something Entei and Raikou greatly appreciate.
Starmie eliminates the bulky Ground-types that stop both of my sweepers and Entei. Starmie is the fastest poke on my team outside of Scarfchomp, so its role as a revenge killer cannot be understated.

Tepeu (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Gender: Male
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Iron Head/Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind
Mixed Wall Skarmory is my main defensive Pokémon, tanking many hits the rest of my team cannot. Stealth Rock is useful for ensuring KOs on many mons for my sweepers. Roost provides reliable recovery throughout the match, greatly increasing Skarmory’s longevity. Whirlwind phazes out opposing set-up sweepers and shuffles the opposing team around to rack up hazard damage. I run Iron Head as my offensive move because I prefer the lack of recoil, but Brave Bird is also a good option for more power.
Skarmory forms a great core with Garchomp, with both of them covering each other’s weaknesses. Skarmory is my main switch into Ground-type attacks, so if he goes down Ground-types can do a number to my team. Lastly, Skarmory can be an emergency stop to nearly any Pokémon with Sturdy and Whirlwind, which can give me a chance to get back in the game if I fall behind.

Naum (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Shiny: Yes
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Rock Polish
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm/Ice Punch/Grass Knot/???
Rock Polish Mega Metagross is my main win condition. At +2 it outspeeds the entire tier, including Scarfers. Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt are great STABs, which both have useful secondary effects as bonuses. Seriously, if Metagross gets the boost from Meteor Mash it is absolutely unstoppable. I run Hammer Arm in the last slot for Steel-types, but Ice Punch is useful for Dragons and Lando-T/Gliscor and Grass Knot also hits Ground-types and provides a way for me to hit pesky Water-Ground-types. This slot is currently up in the air and any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.
Within the team, I have ways to hit most of Mega Metagross’s counters hard. Starmie obliterates bulky Ground-types, Entei blasts through Grass- and Steel-types, Garchomp take out Heatran, and Raikou defeats bulky Waters. The only problems are bulky Psychic-types like Mew and Cresselia, but I can wear them down with Starmie and Raikou over time. Mega Metagross helps Garchomp by destroying Fairy-types and it greatly appreciates Skarmory as a switch-in to Ground- and Dark-type moves. Mega Metagross is insanely powerful and even if it doesn’t sweep, the wholes it punches are usually enough for Entei or Garchomp to clean up afterwards.

Threatlist:

- Mega Alakazam is just insane. Its power, coverage, and speed completely wreck my team. Entei’s E-Speed is my only real answer, as even Skarmory is 2HKO’d by Focus Blast, and nearly one-shot if Zam is carrying T-bolt.

- Bisharp is a huge pain in my side. If it gets up to +2, Sucker Punch OHKO’s everything, and Skarmory isn’t a safe switch-in because +2 Knock Off OHKO’s after rocks over 50% of the time.

- Like Bisharp, Weavile is a big problem. I generally have trouble with Ghost and Dark types, in case it isn’t obvious. Skarmory can counter it and Entei can check it, but I still have trouble with it nonetheless.

- This thing is terrifying in sand. Skarmory stops it cold, but it is still a problem for my team.

- LO Gengar 2HKO’s my enter team after rocks, but most of my team can come in after something faints and revenge it. A good player can play around my team and wear down my mons one by one with offensive Gengar.

- Starmie and Raikou can check it, but neither wants to take a hit from Keldeo. Mega Metagross can do the same, but only if its already Mega Evolved. Offensive Keldeo is just a huge problem in general.

- Skarmory is my only switch-in, and while other mons can check it, its Earthquakes wreck my team if Skarm goes down.

- Garchomp can come in on anything except HP Ice and OHKO, but I have no other good answers for it.

- My only way to hit Physically Defensive Mew is Starmie’s Hydro Pump, and a very lucky roll with Entei’s Sacred Fire. With its insane versatility, Mew can come in and do whatever it wants.

- Like with Mew, I have no good way to hit Specially Defensive Rotom-W. I literally lose straight-up to it. Please help with this one, I’m not sure what to change to beat it and the next mon on this list.

- Like the last two, particularly Rotom-W, Mega Sableye wrecks me. I can sometimes 2HKO it, but I can never know which mons can do the deed and which can’t because its investment can alter so greatly. I need help with this, I’m not sure what I can do.

- Slowbro is really annoying, as my only answer is Raikou. I can beat it, but it requires near-perfect predictions and if I can get Raikou set up early.

- Thundurus is beatable, but its priority paralysis a problem and a good player can get multiple kills with it against me.

- At +2, it OHKO’s or 2HKO’s my entire team, and if it runs Shadow Sneak, my Starmie can no longer beat it. Garchomp and Starmie can outspeed, but neither can one-shot it and both get taken out with the correct coverage move. Skarmory can phaze it out, but that’s not a permanent answer and +2 Drain Punch does up to 70% to it.

- At +1, Skarmory can take a hit and phaze it out, but I need to make good predictions to actually take it out, usually with Raikou.

- CroCune is a pain, like it is for most teams. I can beat it with Raikou, but only if I boost up alongside it and don’t get Scald burned. If it isn’t running Roar I can phaze it with Skarmory, but its Roars outspeed my Whirlwinds.

- Not very common, but it can trap and OHKO Entei and Raikou if LO, and Metagross if Banded.

- In rain I lose to Mega Swampert, with only Skarmory taking a hit, but Waterfall usually 2HKO’s. If its Adamant, Garchomp can outspeed because of its Scarf and deal enough damage with Outrage for Entei to revenge it with E-speed. If it’s Jolly, however, it outspeeds Garchomp and I pretty much lose.

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- I can’t hit any of these Water/Ground types in general since I don’t have any Grass moves. They can all come in and do whatever they want. Even though these three are relatively uncommon, they are all huge problems for my team.

Importable:

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GIII (Entei) @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge
- Bulldoze

Chaac (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute

Nohochacyum (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Poison Jab
- Fire Blast

Chicchan (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Ice Beam

Tepeu (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Impish Nature
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Naum (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm

Conclusion:
Thanks for reading! Please rate and provide constructive criticism. Any help is much appreciated!
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[Festus_Returns]

Yo,
It seems like you have a problem with setup sweepers like Bisharp and M. Gallade. A good answer to setup in general would be Unaware Clefable, but Bisharp can just obliterate it. Also, faster pokemon like M. Kazam, Gengar and Weavile seem to be a problem as well. To fight off those threats, I would replace Raikou>SubCM Keldeo. They both do basially the same, only Keldeo has better coverage and nails the dark types your team hates.
Now that Bisharp's out of the way, you can effectively run Unaware Clefable>Starmie. This will allow you to check setup sweepers like M. Gallade and Talonflame, who, like you said, can do huge damage to your team. It also checks M. Sableye decently well. Now you don't have a spinner, but your team isn't really weak to rocks anyway.

Optional:
Kyurem-B is a terrifying wallbreaker who can just obliterate unprepared teams, although it's weak to rocks.
Hippowdon would work as a replacement for Skarm, but they both do pretty much the same thing. I've personally have had more luck with Hippo, but that's just me.
Scarf Ttar would do a better job than chomp, as it can pursuit trap Mega Kazam and Gengar.

That's about all, I think. I'm pretty new too, though, so don't expect this to be the best set in the world.

Hope I helped :3

 

[Subjugator]

Wazzup EndlessGadgets .

I think that Talonflame is a better choice for this team as an offensive fire-type than Entei is, mainly because of the fact that it wrecks havoc on many of your weaknesses. Keldeo, Mega Alakazam, Gengar, Bisharp, Mega Gallade, and Weavile all scream in terror when confronted with a AoA Banded Talonflame, and when you see an opponent which you cannot beat (i.e. Mega Gyara, CroCune, Washtom, etc.) And it can also run a Natural Gift set to lure in and destroy Mega Gyara, Mega Pert, and all of those Water/Ground types. Talonflame's priority is better than Entei by far which is why I suggest Talonflame > Entei.

I also keep thinking that Landorus-Therian>Skarmory provides a better role than Skarmory as it can more reliably check things such as Excadrill, Mega Gallade, and Mega Gyarados, because of Intimidate, a measure which will find more use elsewhere as Landorus-Therian is a better SR lead who can come into more threats than Skarmory can, namely special attackers.

Tl;dr:

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->

Sets

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Steel Wing

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Have a good day!

 

[BlazeTemplar]

Looking at your team, yes, I can see why some mons prove to be a serious threat and agree with the two above posters.
Keldeo and Lando would go a Long way to helping check a lot of your issues.
Keldo's 108 Speed is handy (not 110 I know but...) plus the stab water fighting coverage hits most things incredibly hard, giving it the ability to wallbreak early game or sweep late game with a couple CM boosts behind a sub or even elect to bypass the sub and have an additional coverage move/support move like Icy Wind which cripples a lot of switching in checks. (Dragonite immediately springs to mind)
Also, might I suggest swapping Poison Jab to Iron head on Garchomp as it can hit all the fairies just as hard, has a flinch chance, and can crush Mega Diance without a single worry plus it can deal neutral damage to klefki, easing prediction a bit. Yes, it loses out the poisoning chance but it's a good choice as it also hits Kyurem Black hard.
Really, it's up to you, but it's a fair play in my opinion. (even if grass types can take Iron head a lot more comfortably, but really, outside of ferro and celebi what grass types are you going to see?)

As for mega Sableye.... If you have the rocks up, an adamant 252 Earthquake before item calculation from Lando-T is an assured 2HKO on standard Utility M-Sableye. Of course, that's not a true counter as it can get burned if it's not on the switch (or before sableye megas...) but it's something to keep in mind.

Speaking of which, your team struggles with status and has a huge fear of burns. I know Analytic Starmie hits like a nuke on switches but natural cure would give you something to more comfortably absorb status which considering how prone you are to burns, sleep, toxic and para... It might be worth the loss in power in this situation and it's made doubly so as most people expect analytic starmie, so they might not bother putting something else to sleep, giving you a nice opportunity to bring it in later and go 'surprise!' Of course, the obvious option to handle this mon is Sableye which is probably the most burn spreader via will-o-wisp outside of rotom wash since Starmie will not take a foul play comfortably...

So changes to consider.

Skarmory->Lando-T
Raikou->Keldo
Natural Cure Starmie
Iron Head Garchomp

If you don't like the ideas, that's perfectly fine, but I thought I'd point out a few notable things.

 

[EndlessGadgets]

Thanks for the rates! I am currently testing what everyone suggested and I will update once I've made any full-out changes. Just one question: to you 2 guys suggesting Lando-T, should I also swap out Garchomp cuz the Ice weakness is huge with both of them?