VGC Special Team

Xoronis

Xoronis

This team came into being after I had one too many battles where I would have won had I not been shut down by Intimidate. This team has two different combos it rotates around, depending on the situation. A lot of the EVs are standard, and aren't benchmarked for anything in particular outside of what is in the Smogon Pokedex, so I would appreciate recommendations for better EV spreads.

sylveon.gif

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 188 HP / 68 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Protect

Sylveon exists as a way to combat Trick Room teams. The moves are designed to combat most popular Trick Room setters as well as give some coverage. Sylveon is mostly a filler Pokemon, and could be changed if something better fits my team.

charizard-megay.gif

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Focus Blast
- Fire Pledge
- Protect

Charizard Y is one of my core Pokemon. Heat wave exists to hit both Pokemon, while Fire Pledge exists to combo with Venusaur's Grass Pledge. I chose Focus blast over other moves because Heatran had been giving my team trouble, because having sun out caused my water pokemon to not be able to deal with Heatran effectively.

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Rotom-Wash @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpA
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Another filler Pokemon, this one is to deal with Talonflame. I don't remember my exact reasoning for Safety Goggles, but when I initially was putting my team together I think I had a Sitrus Berry somewhere else. The moveset is standard, and works well with Illumise.

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Venusaur @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect
- Grass Pledge

My second core pokemon, paired almost exclusively with Charizard Y. Designed to be aggressive, the moveset aims to make the most of that. Grass Pledge pairs with Fire Pledge, while Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are standard. I chose Focus Sash over Life Orb as a way to deal with Pokemon that can OHKO him (Talonflame).

greninja.gif

Greninja @ Lum Berry
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
- Dark Pulse
- Blizzard

This set with Greninja exists to deal with the genies easily. Blizzard can OHKO both Landorus-T and an offensive Thunderus, sometimes at the same time. Lum Berry exists to deal with a Thunderus' Thunder Wave. I use Modest over Timid because I'm not using an offensive item, and generally Greninja is paired with Illumise for Tailwind.

illumise.gif

Illumise @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 110 SpD
Calm Nature
- Tailwind
- Sweet Scent
- Encore
- Silver Wind

This is my wild card. Not many people know what to expect, so this catches them off guard. The EVs are speced to survive a Choice Banded Landorus-T's Rock Slide. Tailwind gives Greninja the speed necessary to outspeed a Choice Scarfed Landorus-T, and also makes it faster than Thunderus so it can pull off a second move before getting potentially taunted twice. Sweet Scent causes all moves carried by the rest of my team to have effectively 100% accuracy, which means free Will-O-Whisps and a Blizzard that can deal with dual genies effectively.

This team is pretty good, but it has a couple downfalls. Trick Room usually gets an edge on me, and having Charizard Y out can cripple my water moves, which sometimes kills me.

Also, if you recommend a legendary pokemon, could you recommend a non-legendary alternate in addition? I plan on using this team in my game, and I don't have the patience to soft reset for a competitively viable legendary.
 
Nice team :)
I would recommend using choice scarf mamoswine over greninja. It offers a fast mode alongside charizard with its spread moves earthquake (handling rock / fire types charizard hates) and rock slide, and also handles the genies more reliably with icicle crash/ice shard :)

Suggested set:

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Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature (jolly outspeeds scarf lando-t)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard

An very good alternative support role in the place of illumise would be wide guard aegislash. This (especially when lead with charizard) would help deal with a load of common threats, like terrakion, landorus-therian etc.

Suggested set:

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Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SpA / 76 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

- Survives Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor :]

Another possible legendary support role instead of illumise is cresselia, who is one of the best consistency boosters to charizard with thunder wave/icy wind/helping hand/Rocky Helmet/Moonlight etc... The only required IVs are its defenses (HP/Def/SpD) so there is a larger chance of getting it in game, since 3 IVs are guaranteed to be maxed out.

Suggested set:

488.gif


Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam/Icy Wind
- Thunder Wave/Helping Hand
- Moonlight

(Dont have both icy wind/thunder wave on the same set)

- Moonlight recovers 75 % under sun
- Talonflames Brave Bird is a 3HKO
- Survives Bisharps Knock Off
- Outspeeds 4 Spe Rotom-Wash by one point

In my opinion, bulky charizard spread work better with cresselia, as opponents will find it harder to build up offensive momentum against the combination of charizard and cresselia. A good example of a bulky charizard spread is:

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Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 44 SpA / 20 SpD / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Solar Beam
– Overheat
– Protect

  • Survives Jolly Garchomp and Mamoswine unboosted Rock Slide 100% of the time
  • Survives Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor 100% of the time
  • Survives Modest Thundurus-I Thunderbolt 100% of the time
  • Outruns Adamant Landorus-T by one Speed point and scarf landorus after an icy wind :]
Another really interesting support role that could take place of illumise is aerodactyl, who has access to stellar support moves for charizard, but is quite frail.

suggested set:

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Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Sky Drop
- Tailwind
- Wide Guard

i think there was some speculation that aerodactyl is a prehistoric version of charizard, so this alone makes a combination of the two pretty cool, since they work so well together. Sky Drop is a great little tech that acts as a sort of fake out, allowing charizard to OHKO a mon if its threatened by another on the field (to then switch out or protect the next turn). this works a bit like a two turn ally switch, as it prevents charizard from being attacked :]
A charizard firing off sun boosted heat waves under tailwind is a nightmare to deal with, especially when there is the chance of flinch from rock slide. aerodactyl also acts as a secondary fire type killer with rock slide, handling opposing charizard-y etc. wide guard is also awesome support for charizard, as it protects both mons from opposing rock slide.
imo, cresselia is a better support mon for more conservative players, and aerodactyl is better for offensive players. in the current metagame, aerodactyl is really uncommon, so few players know what moveset it would typically run (bar rock slide...) which can work to your advantage :]
 
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Thank you for your recommendations. I'll definitely try them out. However, I was hoping to keep with the theme of using special attackers (or at least pokemon that aren't negatively impacted by intimdate). If your recommendations work well, it'll be a similar but separate team.
 
Hello! I like your team and it sounds cool. But I noticed something off. The Pixel plate on Sylveon. Though you may need to get rid of protect for this. I would recommend a Choice Specs on Sylveon.
Choice Specs:Hold item which raises Special Attack by 50%, but locks holder into one move.
Pixie Plate: Holder's Fairy-type attacks have 1.2x power. Judgment is Fairy-type.
With choice specs. I think it would give Sylveon more power on more of her/his moves. Not just raising the power of Hyper voice. Sure, you can use more than one attack with Pixie Plate. But with choice specs i'll also raise the power of Psyshock. Which hits Defense instead of Special Defense. Useful for taking out mons like Blissey. While hypervoice would hit Defense mons.
 
Choice specs is a great item on sylveon, but if you want access to protect, i would stick with pixie plate (if you're a more conservative player). this would also enable you to use calm mind or helping hand. Helping hand is a great move next to fast spread attackers like charizard/greninja, as sylveon can get off a helping hand before it gets KOd so that charizard/greninja can use a helping hand boosted heat wave/blizzard in the same turn. Calm mind is also a great move to power up sylveon's hyper voice and to power up its special bulk. I would also give sylveon hidden power [ground] to hit heatran, who is one of charizard's biggest counters, so sylveon is a better partner for it :]

I would also recommend a slightly different EV spread:

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 236 HP / 172 Def / 80 SpA / 8 SpD / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Helping Hand
- Protect

Some damage calcs:
  • 252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 236 HP / 172 Def Sylveon: 169-200 (84.5 – 100%) — 0.4% chance to OHKO
  • 252+ Atk Bisharp Iron Head vs. 236 HP / 172 Def Sylveon: 164-194 (82 – 97%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252+ Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 236 HP / 172 Def Sylveon: 84-100 (42 – 50%) — 0.4% chance to 2HKO
  • 252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Overheat vs. 236 HP / 8 SpD Sylveon in Sun: 169-199 (84.5 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 44+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Heat Wave vs. 236 HP / 8 SpD Sylveon in Sun: 81-96 (40.5 – 48%) — guaranteed 3HKO
  • 252+ SpA Life Orb Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 236 HP / 8 SpD Sylveon: 174-205 (87 – 102.5%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO
I would also recommend that you change the rotom EV spread slightly. A spread of 252 HP / 20 Def / 76 SpA / 148 SpD / 12 Spe with a Calm nature allows it to survive a 252+ SpA charizard y solarbeam from full health as well as getting a OHKO on standard 4/252/252 talonflame (who threatens venusaur) with thunderbolt. This spread will also speed creep other rotom-wash with 4 Spe investment
 
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Btw if you dont want to use mamoswine as an alternative to greninja, wide guard swampert is a brilliant counter to double genies:


Swampert @ Expert Belt
Ability: Torrent
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 228 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Earth Power
– Wide Guard

The spread allows it to survive Mega Kangaskhan’s adamant Return, with an 18.8% chance to take a Double Edge from adamant Mega Kangaskhan. Swampert is able to survive adamant Double Edge from Mega Salamence 100% of the time while also being able to survive hits on the special side as well. Swampert is able to survive a Choice Specs Hydreigon’s Draco Meteor at max special attack with a 6.3% chance to return OHKO.

Basically any strong, bulky-ish ground type with an ice move is a good counter to double genies, as it cant get paralysed
 
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