ORAS OU Spike stacking

[DoctorZie]

Basically the purpose of this team is to set up hazards, prevent the other team from removing them or make them think twice on trying to, then cause destruction with the win conditions.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind

Skarmory provides the main form of damage for my team, stealth rock and spike stacking. Brave bird is there for a form of attacking and whirlwind is to phaze out mons so the next one can take damage. Stealth Rock should be the priority as it weakens Volcarona which is a threat to most my team and Pokemon that are immune to spikes.

Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 SpD
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt

Sableye is very useful because it bounces back hazards which greatly supports the goal for the team. Sableye also works as a spin blocker to prevent the other team from spinning away our hazards. Foul play does heavy damage to physical set up sweepers and hits lead garchomp fairly hard. Will-o-wisp is here to cripple physical mons or do residual damage to bulky pokemon or special attackers. Taunt is used on predicted defogger switch ins.

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

Bisharp is here if a defogger manages to get in un-taunted. Bisharp's ability defiant doubles it's attack stat after the evasion drop from defog. After this, Bisharp can take out the most common defoggers, the latis, with ease along with a handful of other pokemon. Knock off is mainly used on predicted switches or on slower opponents. Sucker punch is to hit all out attacker like mega manectric or weakened mons. Iron head for fairy coverage, and pursuit to catch those latis when they're trying to run away.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Recover

Starmie serves as the rapid spinner for this team. Rapid spin is used over defog obviously to keep our hazards on the field, and not theirs. (The goal is to do as much damage as possible with hazards.) Starmie takes care of the landos, garchomp and gliscor for the team. The evs are made to give starmie a bit of bulk but keep the nice speed stat. 0 ivs in attack to take the least amount of damage from foul play as possible.

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sludge Wave

Landorus cleans up late game after the other team is worn down by hazards. Earth power hits heatran nicely as my team didn't have much to touch it with. HP ice is for opposing landos and grass types (which my team also cant hit that hard.) And sludge wave for additional fairy type coverage.

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Trick

Rotom heat was an iffy choice for this team but i found that it fits fairly well. Rotom heat can take on talonflame and provides another win condition for the team. Rotom heat can also trick a choice scarf onto a latis twin if you predict an attacking move, preventing the defog. Rotom Heat can hit skarmory which my team has a bit of a problem with and hits grass types with even more power than landorus.

Feedback is appreciated!

 

[Style]

hey doc,

Your team has a p. big weakness to Keldeo, especially Sub CM. The reason is the amount of opportunities it has to threaten your team between Bisharp, Sableye and a non-boosted Landorus-I. You can help with this issue by making a simple change to your Starmie by using Psyshock over Ice Beam. This will give you something to keep Keldeo in check while still being useful outside of that role, hitting things like Gengar for a clean KO.

I don't think you're making the most out of your Rotom-H on this team. With Scarf, it won't be able to consistently check Pokemon like Charizard-Y and Manectric. This is concerning because the former has lots of opportunities to launch powerful attacks against you between Skarmory, Starmie if sun is up, and Sableye. Manectric is a nuisance because of how easily it can Volt Switch around your team and bring in strong attackers to pressure you, while threatening your only immunity with HP Ice. With how freely Sableye invites strong fairies in, you will definitely appreciate having a Pokemon that can come in on hits from them, which Rotom-H can do rather decently if given the right EVs.

Rotom-H

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 172 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Thunder Wave / Overheat / Toxic

Thunder Wave is here to cripple Charizard-X, because if it sets up a DD on this team, you are outright swept. If you don't like it, you can consider Toxic for things like Talonflame (which actually beats this Rotom-H by Roosting), or Overheat. The EVs let you take special hits comfortably and the 76 Def means Gardevoir's Psyshock doesn't kill you in two hits.

With this change, you lose a Scarfer. One suggestion I have to help with the loss while still fitting the team is Scarf Bisharp over your current set. It still assists with the purpose of your team by trapping Lati@s much more reliably. With Stone Edge, it can surprise some Pokemon that are still very threatening for your team even with the addition of a bulkier Rotom-H, like Charizard-Y and Talonflame. Another cool point to consider about Scarf Bisharp is how it's faster than Tornadus-T, meaning you can hit it with a surprise Knock Off and remove its Assault Vest, which Landorus appreciates.

Bisharp

Bisharp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

Alright, so the focus of your team is to lay down hazards with Skarmory, but I feel that the set you are currently using on it isn't suited for your team. From experience, Spikes + SR only works well on suicide Custap Berry sets, seen on more offensive builds. I think you would get much more mileage from using a Roost Skarmory on this team. The reason is p. simple. Right now, Lopunny-M runs through your team with little trouble. Other things like Excadrill in sand and Diancie-M are also big issues. By using Roost, you gain a much more reliable answer to these threats and make it a more efficient hazard setter.

Skarmory

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpD / 240 Def
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Iron Head

With Roost and physical defense, you now have a very solid answer to Lopunny and other physical threats like DD Altaria, both of which ran through you previously without recovery. Iron Head lets you nail Diancie and still hit Lopunny. I removed SR here because as mentioned, using both hazards really gives Skarm too much responsibility and leads to it becoming overwhelmed because of everything it has to do between laying down hazards and keeping threats in check.

You lose an SR setter by using this version of Skarmory, so I'd recommend using SR over RP on Landorus-I, and then using a Timid nature so that you are faster than things like Manaphy, which is p. threatening to your team. This might not be entirely ideal since you lose a win condition, but it leads me to the suggestion I structured my entire rate around and that's using Rock Polish Diancie-M over Sableye-M as your win condition. I genuinely think Sableye does more harm than good to your team, simply because of the amount of threats it invites in that punish your team. Charizard-Y, Charizard-X, Lopunny, Diancie, Gardevoir, Altaria. These are all Pokemon Sableye is inviting in and once they do come out, you are in big danger because of how much their attacks open up holes in your team. Diancie still retains Magic Bounce and limits the opportunities those Pokemon have to damage your team, while serving as the check to both Charizard forms and Talonflame that your team needs.

Diancie

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Polish
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Hidden Power Fire / Earth Power

Ironically, your team is p. weak to other Sableye (CM variants mainly) and Diancie helps with this issue too, which is cool if you consider how Sableye stops Skarmory from laying hazards:)

Lots of gains/losses here so have a summary,

Summary

[+] Psyshock to handle Keldeo better.
[-] Ice Beam, not too bad a loss considering how threatening Keldeo is and how your team handles Ice Beam's targets.

[+] Using a defensive set over Scarf means you better handle things that otherwise really annoy your team, like Charizard-Y and Manectric.
[-] You lose a Scarfer and speed. The Scarf Bisharp suggestion helps make up for this.

[+] Scarf makes up for the loss of the item on Rotom-H and gives you a better Lati@s trapper. Can also surprise stuff that troubles you like Charizard-Y.
[-] Lose the power of LO. Being locked into Scarf means stuff like Charizard-X sets up easier, but the Diancie suggestions slightly helps with this.

[+] Using Roost means you have a better answer to Lopunny, which ran through you. Helps keep Skarm around to hazard more.
[+] Loss is SR, gained by Landorus.

[+] SR gain since it was replaced on Skarm.
[+] Loss of RP, removing a win condition. Made up for by suggesting Diancie.

[+] New win condition with RP since it was replaced on Landorus. Adds more offense to the team and makes it so the Pokemon that took advantage of Sableye's presence don't have as many opportunities to damage you. Gives you the answer to Sableye that you lacked.
[-] Lose the spin blocking Sableye provided, but you do have Bisharp to remove spinners like Starmie and Landorus to pressure other spinners.

 

[YUNG GOAT]

might want to switch ice beam on starmie to reflect type or psyshock because most landos, gliscors and chomps will not stay in on the scald anyway and reflect type means you can 1v1 things like bisharp and scizor without worrying about giving up momentum on u-turns or stray knockoffs.

gl