XY OU RMT: Mega Altaria Balance

[new man]

Hey, welcome to my first RMT! To preface: about a week ago (ayyy) I spotted a snazzy-looking Altaria-Reuniclus-Toxicroak core on the 'ORAS Good Cores' thread, and I decided to build a team around it. I've had great success with this team on WiFi (and yes, against actual competitive teams; not kids who've just finished the game) and I thought I'd attempt to receive some experienced feedback in order to make the most out of my squad.

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Modest
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 176 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Roost

Acting as the star of the team, Altaria is designed to nuke threats such as M-Sableye and Keldeo with Hyper Voices while keeping sweepers like ZardX under check with its phenomenal defensive typing. The EV spread shown allows Altaria to take the least amount of damage possible from stealth rocks (at the same time as holding on to some bulk) and 176 speed EVs allow it to outpace adamant Bisharp. Despite the modest nature, Earthquake is on this set to counter opposing Heatran - scoring the 2HKO almost guaranteed - without utilizing a nature that would detriment Altaria's overall bulk. Altaria also helps me beat Slowbro (barring already-boosted mega variants) to prevent calm mind wars with Reuniclus and it allows Toxicroak/Excadrill to sweep more easily.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Reuniclus is often the late-game sweeper of this lot and is built to set up on predicted switches or against Pokemon which don't particularly threaten it. I chose Psyshock/Focus Blast over Psyshock/Shadow Ball because I feel that hitting Pokemon such as Heatran, Tyranitar, and M-Gyarados for super-effective damage was better than being walled by Psychic types. This does leave it vulnerable to scary mons like Sableye and Slowbro, but the general idea is to take them out before attempting to sweep. Reuniclus can also be used as a pivot for Pokemon choice-locked into resisted hits, evidently due to its beefiness (particularly on the physical side).

Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

Toxicroak is my blanket check to Azumarill, who can give this team a lot of trouble especially when running the assault vest set. This Pokemon additionally has a lot of fun against rain teams (lacking Swampert). Typically, Toxicroak will get to +2 in an advantageous situation early or mid-game to wear down checks to my other sweepers or to nail slower teams. Toxicroak's weaknesses are offset by the typings of the remainder of the team (outside of ground-type moves once Altaria has mega-evolved), so generally the only problem with its mediocre bulk is prediction of my opponent's moves when I feel that I need to switch.

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Low Kick / Pursuit
- Ice Shard

Weavile is my answer to faster threats (namely the Lati twins and Gengar), able to revenge kill with relative ease; or on a fresh switch-in, potentially creating a sweep of its own against weakened teams. I'm still on the fence in regards to running pursuit over low kick, but it seems that so far low kick has helped more than I think pursuit would. Advice please? Anyway, Weavile is often my go-to lead against faster teams and when counter-predicting opponents to expect Hippowdon as my lead, usually able to get a knock off onto incoming switches or for free when entry hazards are being set. Weavile also has decent synergy with Toxicroak, swiftly dealing with the Psychic and Ground types that can give it trouble. Ice shard, as you'd imagine, is particularly handy with getting rid of the Landorus formes and weakened adamant variants of Talonflame.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Roar (/Stone Edge)

Hippowdon is great against setup sweepers who would otherwise give this team trouble, like Mega Scizor who has a field day against every single one of the above Pokemon. Hazard support is also fantastic, allowing me to wear down bulkier Pokemon (and VoltTurn cores) and allowing for certain OHKOes (such as Toxicroak's sucker punch onto Latios). The sand that Hippo brings also assists Excadrill tremendously. Again, I'm a little indecisive about a moveslot. Roar discourages setup sweepers from bypassing Hippowdon's gargantuan defenses, but Stone Edge allows me to hit flying types (particularly Talonflame; who otherwise gives this team plenty of trouble if played well enough). 4MSS really sucks.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Finally, Excadrill holds this team together as a decent fairy check (barring Azumarill) while acting as an emergency sweeper when the sand is up (which reminds me, should I potentially run smooth rock on Hippo?). I'm debating running rapid spin over swords dance to aid the team, but +2 drill is so good against bulkier teams. Weavile and Altaria (pre-mega) are the only ones affected badly by rocks, but I haven't fallen prey to the sneaky pebbles yet.

So how does this team look? I unfortunately can't provide any Showdown replays for you to see how I play this team, but I can assure you that I have decent experience in the OU tier (it's just I've never put too much work into building my own team before!). The threats I've seen affect this team the most so far are Talonflame, sleep-inducing moves in general, M-Diancie, and bulkier stall teams (if I make misplays on crucial turns, etc.).

Thanks in advance for reading! :)

EDIT: Statements or words that have been bolded follow changes suggested by raters down below.

 

[firehusky]

Hello and welcome to smogon!

Your team looks very nice, utilizing some very underrated pokemon such as toxicroak and reuniclus. Here are some changes I think you should consider.
First of all, I would change hippowdon's EV spread to 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD, as it allows hippowdon to better take on special attackers such as mega manectric and life orb thundurus. Hippowdon is already very bulky on the physical side so it doesn't really mind the slight lost in physical bulk. Your current spread for hippowdon is great for taking on some powerful physical attackers such as mega pinsir and mega charizard x, but mega pinsir is on the decline and you already have two soft checks to mega charizard x, excadrill in sand and mega altaria. I'd also replace swords dance on excadrill to rapid spin, and replace lum berry with an air balloon or life orb. Swords dance on excadrill is mainly to break past defensive and more bulkier teams, as excadrill already demolishes offense under sand. However, you already have CM reuniclus which can easily dismantle stall teams, as well as swords dance toxicroak to break through bulkier teams. Swords dance excadrill really doesn't feel necessary on this team as it doesn't seem to struggle too hard with defensive builds. Lum berry's main purpose is to take a will-o-wisp from pokemon such as rotom-w so that you can set up an SD on it, but since my previous recommendation was to remove swords dance, lum berry kind of loses its purpose. Air balloon and life orb are all perfectly fine choices, with air balloon allowing you to beat pokemon such as scarf heatran, while life orb has a better overall damage output.

That's all, hope this helped!

 

[leremyju]

This team is really solid however, having a ground immunity would probably be good for your team. Maybe as a Pseudo grind immunity you could use Air Baloon Excadrill. I agree with all the changes above.

As for Pursuit vs Low Kick, look at your teams needs. Low Kick is used for Tyranitar, Ferroorh, Heatran, Bisharp, etc.. I don't think your team struggles with those, so try Pursuit and see if it works out for you

 

[new man]

Hello and welcome to smogon!

Your team looks very nice, utilizing some very underrated pokemon such as toxicroak and reuniclus. Here are some changes I think you should consider.
First of all, I would change hippowdon's EV spread to 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD, as it allows hippowdon to better take on special attackers such as mega manectric and life orb thundurus. Hippowdon is already very bulky on the physical side so it doesn't really mind the slight lost in physical bulk. Your current spread for hippowdon is great for taking on some powerful physical attackers such as mega pinsir and mega charizard x, but mega pinsir is on the decline and you already have two soft checks to mega charizard x, excadrill in sand and mega altaria. I'd also replace swords dance on excadrill to rapid spin, and replace lum berry with an air balloon or life orb. Swords dance on excadrill is mainly to break past defensive and more bulkier teams, as excadrill already demolishes offense under sand. However, you already have CM reuniclus which can easily dismantle stall teams, as well as swords dance toxicroak to break through bulkier teams. Swords dance excadrill really doesn't feel necessary on this team as it doesn't seem to struggle too hard with defensive builds. Lum berry's main purpose is to take a will-o-wisp from pokemon such as rotom-w so that you can set up an SD on it, but since my previous recommendation was to remove swords dance, lum berry kind of loses its purpose. Air balloon and life orb are all perfectly fine choices, with air balloon allowing you to beat pokemon such as scarf heatran, while life orb has a better overall damage output.

That's all, hope this helped!

Thanks so much for your in-depth response! I'll definitely put your suggestions into action :)

 

[new man]

This team is really solid however, having a ground immunity would probably be good for your team. Maybe as a Pseudo grind immunity you could use Air Baloon Excadrill. I agree with all the changes above.

As for Pursuit vs Low Kick, look at your teams needs. Low Kick is used for Tyranitar, Ferroorh, Heatran, Bisharp, etc.. I don't think your team struggles with those, so try Pursuit and see if it works out for you

I see, I'll give Pursuit a try. Thank you!

 

[Wu Thang]

Hello new man, welcome to the community of Smogon!
I had a look at your team and I immediately noticed how weak enough to Tornadus-T, greatly increased usage of lately, and Tail Glow Manaphy that literally destroys all of your team.
That said I would strongly suggest that change Toxicroack not see it very well in the team and in the current metagame, with Raikou that helps a lot the team and provides momentum to the team and a bit speed.

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

Assault Vest Raikou helps a lot against Manaphy and Tornadus-T, Thunderbolt is precisely for stronger hit on the Manaphy, volt switch is basic, shadow ball is to hit stronger the twins, rachi and psyshic in general, and hp ice is for dragons, Garchomp in particular.

In addition to this I noticed some imprecision in the team, such as the spread of Hippowdon and the set of Excadrill.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 SpD
Impish Nature
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

This spread of Hippowdon really helps a lot against Raikou and especially against Tornadus-T since the evs in SPD does not allow the 2HKO, I preferred Rock Slide for the accuracy in 1v1 against Talonflame that could become also a threath very annoying.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon/Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin

I don't know who could help Lum Berry on Excadrill since without Mold Breaker still loses by Rotom-W and without the Orb Landorus-T holds up quite well, however, your team haven't a spinner wich, with Weavile that takes 25% and Raikou that comes in very often, is necessary.

Small tips: 0 IVs in Atk to Reuniclus to minimize the damage from Foul Play and confusion.

I hope I have helped you, bye!

 

[new man]

Hello new man, welcome to the community of Smogon!
I had a look at your team and I immediately noticed how weak enough to Tornadus-T, greatly increased usage of lately, and Tail Glow Manaphy that literally destroys all of your team.
That said I would strongly suggest that change Toxicroack not see it very well in the team and in the current metagame, with Raikou that helps a lot the team and provides momentum to the team and a bit speed.

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

Assault Vest Raikou helps a lot against Manaphy and Tornadus-T, Thunderbolt is precisely for stronger hit on the Manaphy, volt switch is basic, shadow ball is to hit stronger the twins, rachi and psyshic in general, and hp ice is for dragons, Garchomp in particular.

In addition to this I noticed some imprecision in the team, such as the spread of Hippowdon and the set of Excadrill.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 SpD
Impish Nature
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

This spread of Hippowdon really helps a lot against Raikou and especially against Tornadus-T since the evs in SPD does not allow the 2HKO, I preferred Rock Slide for the accuracy in 1v1 against Talonflame that could become also a threath very annoying.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon/Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin

I don't know who could help Lum Berry on Excadrill since without Mold Breaker still loses by Rotom-W and without the Orb Landorus-T holds up quite well, however, your team haven't a spinner wich, with Weavile that takes 25% and Raikou that comes in very often, is necessary.

Small tips: 0 IVs in Atk to Reuniclus to minimize the damage from Foul Play and confusion.

I hope I have helped you, bye!

Thanks for taking the time to provide some feedback!

Nothing personal, however, but Toxicroak was one of the Pokemon the team was built around in the first place and thus I don't foresee myself replacing it. I see your reasoning behind suggesting Raikou, but without Toxicroak the balance of the team overall would be skewed slightly. Toxicroak actually fulfills a beneficial niche in this metagame (and subsequently this team), even allowing it to sit at a B- viability ranking at this current time. With Raikou over Toxicroak, I feel as if I would be substantially weaker to Belly Drum variants of Azumarill; and while having a more reliable check to TG Manaphy and AV Tornadus-T is okay, I haven't encountered too many problems with those Pokemon as of yet (because I'm able to play around them).

Also note that in the RMT post I have altered Excadrill's set to have an Air Balloon with Rapid Spin, and Hippowdon's spread has also been altered. Rock Slide is definitely an interchangeable option for the fourth moveslot (as is Stone Edge)!

Regardless, thank you again! Please continue to give feedback on other RMTs in the future, from what I can see you're really detailed with your descriptions :]