ORAS OU Rate my Metagross Core Team

[tinyranitar]

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Thunder Punch
- Meteor Mash

Here is the man. The reason I picked Metagross is not only because it is one of my favourite Pokemon, but also due to the solid Mega Evolution he acquired. After Mega Evolution, he has decent speed and a whooping amount of Attack and Defense. The EV choices are utilized to maximize his offensive prowess, while 4 in Special Def is a small band-aid to cover his weakness.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 176 HP / 160 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute

While possessing amazing Physical bulk, Mega Metagross is often checked by the presence of Landorus-Therian due to Intimidate and the ever powerful Earthquake. Gyarados checks Landorus-Therian pretty nicely, due to the fact it can survive a -1 Stone Edge from Landorus and stays fairly healthy. Also, he is a pretty decent check to the dangerous Talonflame.
172 Speed EV is used to outrun 115 Base Speed at +1, while the investment in HP makes him fairly bulky. It also gives him an odd number, causing him to take less from Stealth Rock and Substitute. The rest is put into attack for maximum offensive presence.

Waterfall is used as the obvious STAB, while Earthquake is picked to beat many bulky Steel Type and Electric Type, while have decent Base Power.

Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Overheat
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower

Gliscor or Substitute user is a fairly huge problem, and since Metagross already adorned the mantle of the Mega Pokemon so Gardevoir is out of question, Exploud is picked due to the fact that Boomburst hits like a tactical nuke, all the while pierce Sub and with Scrappy, blow Ghost type out of the planet. It is also a fairly reliable check for Ferrothorn due to people rarely face Exploud and I can pull Overheat as a surprise. Flamethrower is used to 2HKO certain Steel Type such as Skarmory without worrying about the huge SpA drop.

248 HP is used for switching into Stealth Rock.

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Psyshock

Azelf is a fairly good suicide lead, and from the obvious point of view that my team severely lacks people to deal with Ferrothorn. I picked this over other suicide lead is because Taunt is pretty invaluable and the high special attack stats enable it to roast Ferrothorn on the get-go. Problem is people don't often lead with Ferrothorn... But it is a fairly decent Pokemon to set up Stealth Rock with.

EV are pretty self explanatory, move as fast as possible while dishing out as much as possible.

Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball

Raikou is in fact not a cover for Metagross, but is picked due to the fact that it is a good Pokemon on its own. Assault Vest makes it outlast other Special Attacker, and can soak up some Special Attack for Metagross. It also checks Gengar pretty well, which was proven to be a nuisance to Metagross. Hidden Power Ice is run to provide coverage with Electric STAB, OHKO regular Landorus-Therian if they switched in on Shadow Ball.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Finally, Tyranitar is picked to counter Charizard Y, which occasionally roast an unprepared Metagross. Most people would switch out Charizard Y on the occasion of Sandstorm, unless the rare Focus Blast case. Tyranitar is also good for eliminating threat such as Gengar and a Superpower can easily surprise a Bisharp.

156 Speed EV is run to outrun Mandibuzz at no speed investment, while the rest maximizing offensive presence and tankiness.

There are some apparent weakness on my team:

No Rapid Spinner - Defoger:

Due to the fact that most member resist Stealth Rock, and I can't seems to find a slot for a reliable Spinner, I decided to pass. Defoging is kind of counter intuitive for Azelf, so I find it is not neccessary either.

Lack of Special Tank

While Tyranitar and Raikou can soak up some hit, they are more offensive oriented and can't tank hits forever.

So... Thanks for reading! Please point out mistake that I've missed, and please suggest on what replacement should I make. Have a nice day! Also... I'm pretty inexperienced at adding Pokemon Sprite, so if anyone knew how to, could you link me to a guide?

 

[TPP]

Hey, nice team! I noticed your team struggles with checking Keldeo, as your best answer is Gyarados, and it doesn't appreciate Scald burns at all, so it's really risky to constantly rely on it as your Keldeo switch in. Luckily Latios is able to check Keldeo, provide hazard removal, check Charizard Y (which always runs Focus Blast to hit Tyranitar and Heatran specifically), and tank some special attacks if necessary, as it's able to recover with Roost. Hazard removal is actually gonna be useful since Gyarados takes 25% each time it switches in while Stealth Rock are up. So since you ran Tyranitar to check Charizard Y, you can replace it with Latios.

I also noticed that besides Azelf and Exploud, the other 4 members of your team get walled by Ferrothorn, and with Azelf most likely dying early as a suicide lead, and with Exploud as a slow specs user, it'll be hard to kill Ferrothorn, as it has no reason to stay in, meaning you'll have to constantly switch back and forth just to try killing it. Your team also appears to struggle with opposing Excadrill, as Gyarados is the only mon that can switch in, and it's going to appreciate trying to switch in when Stealth Rock is on the field, because it'll take 25% just for switching in each time. To help deal with Ferrothorn, Excadrill and Talonflame (which is something Tyranitar originally checked, as well as Bisharp which is another big threat, I think running Tank Garchomp > Azelf will work. Garchomp with Fire Blast, is able to 3HKO Ferrothorn, provide Stealth Rock, and check all the other threats mentioned as well, with Bisharp and Talonflame taking major recoil damage just for making contact with Garchomp. It also helps defeat Mega Scizor, which had an easy time defeating your team, as it can set up and then defeat Exploud with it's priority Bullet Punch, or Superpower.

If you want another way to defeat Ferrothorn, you can run Hammer Arm > Earthquake, as you'll be able to deal a lot more damage to Ferrothorn and it'll also help against Excadrills with Air Balloon. Hammer Arm also helps defeat Chansey, as it's a guaranteed 2HKO, while Meteor Mash has a 1.2% chance to 2HKO. Also, another cool option you could run would be Pursuit, as Metagross is able to trap Latios and Latias, and then remove them, allowing you to have an easier time against foes that dislike Stealth Rock.

Sets

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast

That's it for now, let me know if my changes helped or not, and in case of the latter, I'll come up with something else. Hope I helped ^_^

 

[tinyranitar]

-snip-

Thanks! I see that we struggle with Keldeo as well. Latios is a good Pokemon, but what about Latias? It can healing wish to bring back a near-dead Pokemon, and can tank more hit than Latios. But then, with either replacing TTar I go back to struggle against Bisharp.

Well, I thought of Chomp at first, but it kinda miss out the Taunt. I'd take it into consideration, but recently I find my interest in Dugtrio. It's true that Garchomp can destroy Bisharp, but Dugtrio can trap it and OHKO it with Earthquake.

Would you give me some suggestion on Dugtrio and Latias?

 

[TPP]

Latias is bulkier than Latios, and Healing Wish is pretty useful, but it prevents you from running Roost. This means that while Latias itself can take hits, it won't be able to heal itself and be able to constantly switch in like 4+ times in a battle. Dugtrio can trap Bisharp, but you'll most likely need a focus sash, and if that gets broken (which is really easy for an opponent to do), then Bisharp can just 1HKO it with priority Sucker Punch. If you're really worried about Bisharp, you can try out Keldeo over Gyarados, as it's an extremely good answer to Bisharp, gives you a good special attacker to deal with Ferrothorn, and it's also able to deal with Hippowdon (which walls most of your team) extremely well.

There's also the Choice Specs and the Choice Scarf variants that give you more power and speed respectively, so if you wanna check those out, then click on the following link: http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/keldeo/.

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Secret Sword

 

[tinyranitar]

Thanks for your suggestion! However, after intensive testing, it seems again I'm left with a weakness to Talonflame :( I decided to run Gyarados anyway, since Chompy easily chomp down on Bisharp if given the chance.

 

[Apollo.]

Thanks for your suggestion! However, after intensive testing, it seems again I'm left with a weakness to Talonflame :( I decided to run Gyarados anyway, since Chompy easily chomp down on Bisharp if given the chance.

You can run Stone Edge over Fire Blast on Garchomp and Hidden Power [Fire] over Roost on Lati@s but not quite sure