ORAS OU RMT: BO Bulky Mega Zard X + Banded Azu (Peak ~1600)

[Pocopoco]

Like one and a half week ago I made a thread but unfortunately no one replied, so I wanted to try again with a different team. First I will re-introduce myself. My name is Pocopoco and I have been playing Showdown for like two years now (basically every tier, but I prefer OU and UU the most). Today I decided to join the Smogon forums, since I am kind of stuck at 1500-1600 ELO (70ish GXE). I have also been lurking the forums for a few weeks now and I must say that the community looks great and the effort that people put into this website is simply amazing.

I consider myself a decent battler, however I can't seem to get higher up the OU ladder. There are always some threats that I am weak to even though I try to cover as much as I can. I realised that I am often very weak to setup sweepers. Anyways, on to the team!

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 104 HP / 220 Atk / 184 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

I wanted to build a team around this guy. I went for the bulkier variant so I can avoid the 2HKO from Rotom-W's Hydro Pumps. With this spread I can still outspeed scarfed Lando at +1 and it still hits very hard. Dragon Dance is there to setup mid to late game. Flare Blitz and Dragon Claw are STAB moves and roost is there to heal up after taking stealth rock damage, for example. I usually try to save this guy until mid or late game to sweep, unless I realise that the opponent has no good checks.

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Then I wanted a good wallbreaker, so I went for Azumarill. It is extremely powerful and has access to a really useful priority move in Aqua Jet. Play Rough and Aqua Jet hurt a lot of pokemon and Superpower is mainly there for Ferrothorn that likes to switch in (it OHKO's most spreads). I run 84 speed evs to outspeed uninvested base 60 speed Pokemon and 172 HP evs so it can take hits pretty well. Azu has good type synergy with Mega Zard X (Zard X resists both grass and electric and can deal with them pretty easily).

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power Fire
- Roost

I wanted something to break physical walls so Azu and Zard X have an easier time. Draco hits everything very hard (bar Pokemon that resist it or are immune to it). Psyshock is mainly there for stuff like Keldeo and Mega Venusaur. I went for HP Fire since it nails many pokemon that tend to switch in on Latios, like Mscizor, Ferrothorn, Weavile, etc. I didn't go for surf since I have other ways of dealing with Heatran like Rotom and Lando. I don't mind the fact that I lose speed with HP fire, since I don't care about missing a speed tie (I lose speed ties 99% of the time anyway)

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge

The standard Lando set. It's just so good that it fits on almost all of my teams; tt checks many physical attackers. Rocky helmet is there to punish U-turners for chip damage. Earthquake hits decently hard and deals with heatrans and excadrills (which Zard X has problems with). Stealth Rock is there to hurt Pokemon upon the switch in, which helps Azu wallbreak. U-turn to form a volt-turn core with Rotom-W. Stone Edge is there to get rid of Mega Pinsir and Talonflame.

Mew @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Defog
- Soft-Boiled
- Will-O-Wisp
- Knock Off

I needed a reliable defogger so I chose Mew. This particular EV investment avoids the 2HKO from Latios' Draco Meteor and the speed investment lets me outspeed tyranitar and adamant bisharp. I gave it a Colbur Berry to lure in dark types that want to knock off or pursuit me, so I can take a hit and Will-O-Wisp them. Knock off is there to get rid of items. Mew is just very difficult to take out and helps out my team a lot by keeping entry hazards of the field, removing items and burning stuff.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Def / 108 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Thunder Wave

As much as I hate using this mon I still chose it. The reason for this is that its just so good; it has a great typing and finishes my volt-turn core. I went for a slightly different spread though, I decided to give it some SPdef investment since my Lando can already check physical threats. I would like to hear your opinion on this though. It has a standard moveset bar Twave. I went for Twave since I already have Will-O-Wisp on Mew. Twave slows down possible threats so Zard-X can sweep more easily.


PROBLEMS I'VE COME ACROSS SO FAR WITH THIS TEAM:
- my team is incredibly slow, which makes it very vulnerable to Mega Medicham, for example.

- stall does pretty well against my team, since I have no taunt users. Sometimes I am able to play around stall but it's still very tough.

 

[Pocopoco]

Bump... Come on guys I already made another thread and didn't get any response, help me out please

 

[Wretched Waltz]

I think this team'd benefit from running full Speed IVs on Latios, and making him your Defogger. Run Taunt on Mew to shut down stall/setup.

 

[Pocopoco]

I think this team'd benefit from running full Speed IVs on Latios, and making him your Defogger. Run Taunt on Mew to shut down stall/setup.

Hey man, thanks for your suggestion. I agree with taunt on mew but Im not sure if i want to miss out on hp fire on Latios by making it my defogger (but then again, Zard X and Azu with Superpower can deal with Mscizor and Ferro, respectively). I also feel like Mew is a much more reliable defogger since it can take hits more reliably. I will try it out though to see if it works.

 

[robopoke]

My suggestions:

1)Zard X has to be max Speed to speedtie with so many threats sitting in the 100s with positive nature. Also @ +1 by running max speed, you avoid being revengekilled by Modest Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Kyu-B, and Scarf Rachi with Heart Stamp.
Your concern of being able to set-up against Rotom-W is unwarranted. The average roll of Hydro Pump is 52.15% which is low enough to set-up against comfortably honestly because of the misschance. Rotom-W actually needs super high rolls and not a single miss to actually kill you which will never happen. Before that happens you will die to 2 crits anyway.

You might also also consider running Earthquake over Roost. While Roost is better to help setting up and mitigating Flare Blitz recoil, Earthquake allows you to set-up early and get rid of more threats at the expense of Zard Xs life.

2)You use TWave on Rotom-W which is usually used to prevent Zard X from sweeping you because the offensive team uses Chomp and not Lando-T as their bulky Ground. That is why I recommend Wisp.

3)Your team is superslow. Without changing too much I cannot give you an advice on how to slap a scarfer inside..

4)Why are you using HP Fire Latios to kill Jirachi, Ferrothorn who can be used as set-up Fodder for Zard X?

 

[MANNAT]

Hey there fam, this is a really solid team overall, but I recommend a few changes to make it better.

Threat Overview
Currenly, your team gets absolutely smashed by Latios, with Azumarill being the only Pokemon that even resembles a switch-in for it and it just being able to freely 2HKO Azumarill with Psyshock, not to mention that some of them run electric coverage for Mega Slowbro to compound the issue. Additionally, your team really struggles to check Serperior, who can kill either Rotom-W or Azumarill with Leaf Storm and snowball out of control to a point where your team can no longer handle it. Next, your team has absolutely no checks for Mega Gardevoir, relying on Zardx winning a speed tie to revenge kill it. Lastly, your team really struggles with Kyurem-Black, who can manhandle the entire team with its standard Life Orb set. While these may seem like a lot of threats to take in at once, they can all be taken care of with a couple small tweaks to the team.

Moveset Changes

Pain Split--->Will-O Wisp: Thunder Wave is extremely helpful on Rotom-W because Latios, Serperior, and Mega Gardevoir all come in vs Rotom-W in order to try and wallbreak/start their sweeps, and running Thunder Wave lets you cripple them upon switch in so that a teammate can easily dispatch them, and this really makes it a lot easier to handle the aformentioned mons. Additionally, Thunder Wave can be used as an emergency check to DD Zardx, crippling it for a teammate, taking some pressure off of Lando-T to check it. For these reasons, Thunder Wave is invaluable for your team, and you need Will-O-Wisp to cripple key offensive threats like Bisharp and Azumarill for your team.

Bulky EV Spread--->Offensive: Bulky Dragon Dance Zardx is a relic of the past that allowed it to set up vs more deffensive oriented teams, but in the newer and much more offensive metagame of the present, you need all the speed and power that you can muster. Max speed with a Jolly nature allows you to outspeed several common scarfers at +1, namely Scarf Excadrill and Landorus-T, both of which are very common on offense. Additionally, the extra power provided by the additional attack EVs lands you critical KOs vs important mons like offensive Lando-T.

Defensive--->Offensive: As mentioned earlier, your current team has a lot of trouble with bulkier teams, and you have Thunder Wave on Rotom-W, so you have the freedom to run a more offensive Lando-T set. I recommend that you run an offensive Earth Plate Swords Dance set with Smack Down because it allows you to bust through stall very easily, 2HKOing every mon bar Skarmory and OHKOing Skarmory after Rocks and a Smack Down. Obviously this means you will have to dance around threats like Mega Lopunny and Excadrill a bit more carefully, but you should be able to do it with the offensive pressure exerted by this team. Additionally, a change later in the rate requires you to run Defog Latios, and this set can lure in Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor, who normally wall defensive Lando-T.

Mon Changes

--->

: Personally I recommend running Jirachi over Mew because it helps with every single set mentioned earlier at the start of the rate, and its ability to run Stealth Rock frees up Lando-T to use more offensive sets that help out your team a lot better. Additionally, Jirachi offers valuable Healing Wish Support for Zardx, potentially giving it a second chance to sweep and essentially giving you 2 Zardx's on the same team, as broken as that sounds lol. Additionally, Jirachi is valuable because it adds a secondary mon to beat Clefable aside from offensive Lando-T, and this is really important since it opens a door for Latios to potentially break through teams that rely on Clefable as their sole Latios check. However, this change means that you have to run Defog>HP Fire on Latios so that there is something to remove hazards for Zardx.

That's all for the rate and good luck with the team :]

New Sets

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Wave

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Smack Down
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off/Rock Polish

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Healing Wish
- Thunder Wave

 

[Vittorioso]

If you switch out Mew (which is honestly a dead weight mon) for Scizor you will form a Steel/ Dragon/ Water core, which i think will help strengthen your team. Currently the team gets a blasted apart by common threats such as mega diance, which scizor can help to deter. It also provides defog and other kit essential on any team.

>

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

Scizor provides;

- a viable physical/ special check to many common threats with solid defensive typing
- priority
- anti-fairy capabilities
- reliable recovery
- steel/ water/ dragon core synergy
- defog capabilities
- Uturn synergy with the rest of the team

 

[Pocopoco]

My suggestions:

1)Zard X has to be max Speed to speedtie with so many threats sitting in the 100s with positive nature. Also @ +1 by running max speed, you avoid being revengekilled by Modest Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Kyu-B, and Scarf Rachi with Heart Stamp.
Your concern of being able to set-up against Rotom-W is unwarranted. The average roll of Hydro Pump is 52.15% which is low enough to set-up against comfortably honestly because of the misschance. Rotom-W actually needs super high rolls and not a single miss to actually kill you which will never happen. Before that happens you will die to 2 crits anyway.

You might also also consider running Earthquake over Roost. While Roost is better to help setting up and mitigating Flare Blitz recoil, Earthquake allows you to set-up early and get rid of more threats at the expense of Zard Xs life.

2)You use TWave on Rotom-W which is usually used to prevent Zard X from sweeping you because the offensive team uses Chomp and not Lando-T as their bulky Ground. That is why I recommend Wisp.

3)Your team is superslow. Without changing too much I cannot give you an advice on how to slap a scarfer inside..

4)Why are you using HP Fire Latios to kill Jirachi, Ferrothorn who can be used as set-up Fodder for Zard X?

1) Those pokemon have not been a problem so far but I can definitely see why it would be better to run max speed. I'll make sure to change this.

2) Was using Twave on Rotom since I already had WoW on Mew, but I am swapping him for another mon like Jirachi or Scizor (as others suggested)

3) Yeah I realised this, I am going to use faster spreads, thanks.

4) HP Fire was mainly there to get rid of Ferros and Scizors. Hasn't been that useful though so I will probably switch it for defog.

Thanks for your suggestions, they are very helpful!

 

[Pocopoco]

Hey there fam, this is a really solid team overall, but I recommend a few changes to make it better.

Threat Overview
Currenly, your team gets absolutely smashed by Latios, with Azumarill being the only Pokemon that even resembles a switch-in for it and it just being able to freely 2HKO Azumarill with Psyshock, not to mention that some of them run electric coverage for Mega Slowbro to compound the issue. Additionally, your team really struggles to check Serperior, who can kill either Rotom-W or Azumarill with Leaf Storm and snowball out of control to a point where your team can no longer handle it. Next, your team has absolutely no checks for Mega Gardevoir, relying on Zardx winning a speed tie to revenge kill it. Lastly, your team really struggles with Kyurem-Black, who can manhandle the entire team with its standard Life Orb set. While these may seem like a lot of threats to take in at once, they can all be taken care of with a couple small tweaks to the team.

Moveset Changes

Pain Split--->Will-O Wisp: Thunder Wave is extremely helpful on Rotom-W because Latios, Serperior, and Mega Gardevoir all come in vs Rotom-W in order to try and wallbreak/start their sweeps, and running Thunder Wave lets you cripple them upon switch in so that a teammate can easily dispatch them, and this really makes it a lot easier to handle the aformentioned mons. Additionally, Thunder Wave can be used as an emergency check to DD Zardx, crippling it for a teammate, taking some pressure off of Lando-T to check it. For these reasons, Thunder Wave is invaluable for your team, and you need Will-O-Wisp to cripple key offensive threats like Bisharp and Azumarill for your team.

Bulky EV Spread--->Offensive: Bulky Dragon Dance Zardx is a relic of the past that allowed it to set up vs more deffensive oriented teams, but in the newer and much more offensive metagame of the present, you need all the speed and power that you can muster. Max speed with a Jolly nature allows you to outspeed several common scarfers at +1, namely Scarf Excadrill and Landorus-T, both of which are very common on offense. Additionally, the extra power provided by the additional attack EVs lands you critical KOs vs important mons like offensive Lando-T.

Defensive--->Offensive: As mentioned earlier, your current team has a lot of trouble with bulkier teams, and you have Thunder Wave on Rotom-W, so you have the freedom to run a more offensive Lando-T set. I recommend that you run an offensive Earth Plate Swords Dance set with Smack Down because it allows you to bust through stall very easily, 2HKOing every mon bar Skarmory and OHKOing Skarmory after Rocks and a Smack Down. Obviously this means you will have to dance around threats like Mega Lopunny and Excadrill a bit more carefully, but you should be able to do it with the offensive pressure exerted by this team. Additionally, a change later in the rate requires you to run Defog Latios, and this set can lure in Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor, who normally wall defensive Lando-T.

Mon Changes

--->

: Personally I recommend running Jirachi over Mew because it helps with every single set mentioned earlier at the start of the rate, and its ability to run Stealth Rock frees up Lando-T to use more offensive sets that help out your team a lot better. Additionally, Jirachi offers valuable Healing Wish Support for Zardx, potentially giving it a second chance to sweep and essentially giving you 2 Zardx's on the same team, as broken as that sounds lol. Additionally, Jirachi is valuable because it adds a secondary mon to beat Clefable aside from offensive Lando-T, and this is really important since it opens a door for Latios to potentially break through teams that rely on Clefable as their sole Latios check. However, this change means that you have to run Defog>HP Fire on Latios so that there is something to remove hazards for Zardx.

That's all for the rate and good luck with the team :]

New Sets

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Wave

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Smack Down
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off/Rock Polish

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Healing Wish
- Thunder Wave

Thanks a lot for pointing out threats to my team! Your suggestions are great and I'll make sure to test them out, thanks a lot!

 

[Pocopoco]

If you switch out Mew (which is honestly a dead weight mon) for Scizor you will form a Steel/ Dragon/ Water core, which i think will help strengthen your team. Currently the team gets a blasted apart by common threats such as mega diance, which scizor can help to deter. It also provides defog and other kit essential on any team.

>

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

Scizor provides;

- a viable physical/ special check to many common threats with solid defensive typing
- priority
- anti-fairy capabilities
- reliable recovery
- steel/ water/ dragon core synergy
- defog capabilities
- Uturn synergy with the rest of the team

I could definitely see Scizor working better than Mew because of the reasons you already mentioned, thanks!