VGC Reg G: a rather crappy zacian team

[GGholdengo]

My pokepaste goes here: https://pokepast.es/49b91ab7133d86bd

Greetings, good people of the internet, with the newly found success of zamazenta in regulation g; for once, the tides seemed to be turned and the once feared zacian-c is slowly getting its spotlight stolen by its kin. Although I felt immensely proud for what used to be my favorite legendary to find success in competitive play, I am still looking for ways to restore zacian back to its former glory. With this idea in mind, I present the my proudest efforts for teambuilding in reg g yet:


Good Boi (Zacian-Crowned) @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 204 HP / 76 Atk / 28 Def / 12 SpD / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Play Rough
- Swords Dance
- Protect

Zacian is my restricted legendary of choice, and it’s a pretty plain set, not much fancy editions or quirky move; just simple swords dance and great STAB options in Behemoth Blade and Play Rough. +2 zacian mows through the entire unresisted metagame like knife through butter and I cannot emphasize on how much raw power this Pokemon can output. Overall just a great mon, can’t see how it can get even better.


Birb (Zapdos-Galar) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Thunderous Kick
- Coaching
- Tera Blast

As powerful as zacian is, it is still a sitting duck without reliable teammates, and my more original Pokemon of choice, galarian zapdos happens to fill every single gap. It discourages intimidate after intrepid sword is used, weaken down opponents with thunderous kick, boost zacian’s already-gargantuan attack with coaching, and threaten steel types which would otherwise wall zacian’s attack. The fourth move slot is customizable, and I am struggling to find a good move for it; tera-ground tera blast breaks down fire and steel types, close combat lets zapdos deal out major damage, knock is always a good choice for a free move slot, u-turn allow zapdos to pivot around freely, and I’m even tempted to include tailwind in order to offer speed control. Overall, zapdos-g synergies amazingly well with zacian and I cannot find any other Pokemon to fill its shoes in offering such utility.


Ogerpon-Wellspring @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
Level: 50
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 204 HP / 100 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 188 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Horn Leech
- Follow Me
- Spiky Shield

Ogerpon-w is a no-brainer, resisting ground types, supporting with redirection for zacian to set up while also dishing out massive damage to fire types is just every thing I need to fill out my ultimate offense core.


Not Ditto (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Transform

I know there are probably many alternatives to ditto, but as of the moment I am writing this thread, I couldn’t really make up my mind; but in the meantime, I’ll use ditto as a placeholder. Heavily considering Chien-pao tho, but wouldn’t that make my team sitting ducks for flare blitz koraidon? Let me know your thoughts in the comments


Kitty (Incineroar) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 140 Def / 76 SpD / 36 Spe
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Parting Shot
- Knock Off

The ever reliable incineroar always finds a way to sneak into my teams, and despite me desperately looking for more “original” alternatives, there is no denying incineroar fits nicely into this team. You could argue rillaboom provides recovery and ground resistances, but fake out, intimidate and dark-type coverage bundled in one is just too much temptation for me. Perhaps if I include Chien-pao I would reconsider adding the monke?


Pelipper @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 4 SpA / 140 SpD / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Wide Guard
- Weather Ball

Last but not the least, we have pelipper, which fills the simple role of tailwind support, wide guard for the millions of calyrexes out there and rain support to weaken fire types from damaging zacian.

 

[Mr.GX]

Interesting idea you got there, with Defiant + Coaching. There were a few things that caught my attention:

• The team completely folds to Miraidon. Your only answer is Choice Scarf Ditto, but do note Miraidon often carries Prankster Tailwind. You won't be able to match their pace. None of your Pokemon resists Miraidon as well, nor do you have a terrain setter. Not to mention, you don't have anything else to OHKO Tera Electric Miraidon with other than your Ditto.
• Not quite sold on your Trick Room matchup. Once TR is up, Calyrex-I wrecks havoc.
• You won't be able to outpace Iron Defense Zamazenta-C with the current team. They will set up faster and KO you. You need to be able to disrupt them.

Aside from that, I feel you can do rather fine. Some changes I would recommend would be:

• Zacian Spread: I would run Tera Stellar and Jolly Nature 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe. This spread speed creeps Timid Miraidon by 1 point. Tera Stellar Play Rough has a high chance to OHKO Tera Electric Miraidon as shown in this calc: +1 252 Atk Tera-Stellar Zacian-Crowned Play Rough (1st Use) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tera-Fairy Miraidon: 170-202 (96.5 - 114.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
• Will-o-Wisp > Flare Blitz on Incineroar: With Will-o-Wisp, you threaten Calyrex-I before TR goes up, and a combination of Tera Ghost and Will-o-Wisp shuts down Zamazenta-C, both of which can give you trouble. Will-o-Wisp also comes in handy against Zacian mirrors.
• How feasible has Coaching Zapdos-Galar been? It's Speed tier and typing is not preferred for this format, but I'm curious to see how the team functions. If it has not been upto the standard, I would recommend running AV Rillaboom instead.

Try these small changes for now, see how it works out. Team looks more or less solid (besides the Zapdos. Not sure on that, try and see how it works.) Hope this helps, good luck!