Yanmega was one of my favourite pokemon from last gen, with two great abilities in Speed Boost and Tinted Lens, so I figured it might be even better this generation due to its great flying type STAB and the fact that pokemon that rely on bulk and neutral typing seem to be fading away... Yanmega can bypass resistances with access to the fantastic Tinted Lens ability, meaning an incredibly small portion of the metagame can switch safely into it.
So lets get right into my team-building thought process!
TEAM BUILDING (idea stolen from other threads, ty)
Starting off the team has to include Yanmega! Slapping on a Choice Specs and it starts hitting for some particularly high damage, with very few decent switch-ins due to resistances being cancelled. This Yanmega can break walls or sweep for me, but with 95 speed and a strong but not mind-blowing 115 SpA, I'm going to have to pick pokemon that soften up the enemy team first....
So lets include a great stealth rock lead! Infernape is still strong this gen, being able to put up stealth rock while avoiding any ohkos with focus sash. Fire fighting is good coverage and he can help wear down opponents alongside yanmega with u-turn. Getting up my own rocks is important, so I now need a pokemon who can get rid of their rocks without defogging my own- Yanmega gets obliterated by stealth rock, and Infernape would definitely appreciate being able to switch in again while at 1hp...
Usually you would frown on using a mega-slot for a support role, but Mega Blastoise is so reliable as a rapid spinner and my team needs that- he also packs a huge punch and gives some great coverage! Mega Blastoise is a good all-rounder, but ultimately his main aim is to get rid of those pesky rocks that hinder my team. Now I've dealt with their stealth rock, I want to add a ghost to keep mine up!
And so Gengar joins the fray! What's great about Gengar is that he can also take out anything that worries me with a quick Destiny Bond- due to the nature of my team, I am trying to wear down the opponent by trading hits until a healthy Yanmega can switch in and clean up their team. Having a very fast Destiny Bond to take out something problematic is great for this purpose, and blocking rapid spin is great for Yanmega's endgame sweep too. In fact, residual damage is pretty damn important for my team- it REALLY helps me deal with rotom-W and genesect, perhaps enough so that I want someone who can deal with Defoggers too...
Bisharp is a great addition to the team, filling a lot of holes- he offers important steel typing, important dark typing and resistance to dark and ghost, as well as countering defog, sticky web, and offering some insanely powerful priority. I think its a testament to how good he is that a pokemon with a BST of under 500 is so dominant in today's metagame. For my team, Bisharp offers scary revenge killing capabilities as well as being my secondary sweeper. With him, my team is looking pretty much complete! All that's left is something decent to wall physical threats. Also, whilst my team isn't TOO slow, the pokemon that I'm intending to sweep (Bisharp and Yanmega) are not that fast either... looks like there's only one pokemon for the job!
Zygarde... a very underused and misunderstood (perhaps also by myself) pokemon. He always intrigued me as a pokemon and so I'm taking the opportunity to use him and find out more about him! He's actually been fulfilling his role well- spreading status with glare and dragon tail, while offering thunder wave immunity himself- and with his help, Bisharp and Yanmega are able to take out several threats they otherwise couldn't! What's more, both Bisharp and Yanmega are able to use paraflinch on a paralyzed pokemon, both having access to 30% flinch moves (Air Slash and Iron Head). Most paralyzed pokemon will lose vs my two sweepers, so Zygarde is definitely a useful asset!
So with the team complete, I will introduce the movesets and explain my reasoning behind the moves.
Yanmega @ Choice Specs | Tinted Lens
Modest | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Bug Buzz
-Air Slash
-Shadow Ball
-U-Turn
So Yanmega is the team which I built this team around, and hopefully for good reason! Not many pokemon can soak up its attacks, with only Magnezone and Aggron having a resistance to air slash after tinted lens, and 10 pokemon in total who can resist bug buzz- togekiss, mawile, klefki, infernape, heatran, charizard, talonflame, chandelure, skarmory, and aegislash. What's great is that no pokemon in the game resists both STABs, so correct choice means Yanmega can be a fantastic clean-up with a specs, and with nothing resisting its attacks by x4, specs will still do reasonable damage to anything that switches in, besides Blissey and the pink blob crew.
With both STABs being incredible coverage by themselves, and U-turn being good to let Yanmega scout, Shadow Ball is the final move, giving Yanmega a tool to smack Aegislash (and I guess Chandelure) with and with shadow ball being resisted by nothing due to tinted lens, the only thing that Yanmega has to worry about is Normal types- and Blissey and Chansey are full-stops to Yanmega anyway.
Honestly I feel this pokemon is good enough this gen to be used more than the 0.43% usage that it is receiving...
I ended up going modest nature due to the metagame slowing down a lot this gen and due to having paralysis support. This means he outspeeds everything as slow as Gyarados.. not too bad, but it definitely emphasizes the need for team support.
Infernape @ Focus Sash | Blaze
Rash | 64 Atk / 192 SpA / 252 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Mach Punch
-Overheat
-U-Turn
So Infernape is often my lead in this team, and he excels at putting up stealth rock with high speed and a focus sash. He also offers some much needed priority if he survives, and 64 attack EVs are enough to ohko bisharp with full hp investment most of the time- he can switch in at 1hp on a sucker punch or sword's dance, and proceed to outspeed the next sucker punch and ohko. Anyways, this set I believe is well known enough for me to not have to sing its praises. Infernape is one of the "suicide leads" that can actually stay alive for a surprising amount of time at 1hp.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite | Rain Dish
Modest | 252 Hp / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
-Rapid Spin
-Dark Pulse
-Aura Sphere
-Water Pulse
What an underrated mega-evolution. While mega-blastoise might fail as a sweeper due to unfortunate speed, he's one of the most reliable support pokemon in the game. With dark pulse, he obliterates all ghosts including specially defensive Sableye- this means I can keep rocks off the field for my Yanmega and Infernape with relative ease. Also a bulky water type is quite useful for my team, providing a good source of special bulk which my team somewhat lacks. He takes all the rock, ice and fire type attacks aimed at yanmega with ease and provides a good defensive core with zygarde, with zygarde being immune to electric and blastoise resisting ice type attacks.
Gengar @ Black Sludge | Levitate
Timid | 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Disable
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond
So Gengar is on my team due to his very useful immunities and utility as a spinblocker. I've opted for a Sub Destiny Bond set, as I find it extremely useful to have a pokemon who can just instantly take out any slower threat which my team struggles to wear down with attacks and passive damage- for instance, a clefable who has accumulated too many boosts. While it can be played around, most people do not expect destiny bond. Gengar gives my team some speed, with many of the other pokemon not being quite as fast as is needed to take out base 100s.
I could end up changing the disable on this set for focus blast, but I really despise the miss chance on that move. I know I will end up keeping Sub, Shadow Ball, and Destiny Bond though. Perhaps Will-O-Wisp is a good choice to surprise any physical attackers, or Taunt to force people to attack and trigger Destiny Bond would be a better choice. Disable has not been quite as useful as I'd hoped.
Bisharp @ Life Orb | Defiant
Adamant | 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Sucker Punch
-Sword's Dance
-Iron Head
Good old Bisharp. This pokemon fits so perfectly into today's meta, its so anti-meta its almost meta. Substitute turns sucker punch into an actually reliable attack, and iron head can paraflinch anything to death which has been previously paralyzed by Zygarde. Bisharp is my team's secondary sweeper, crucial Dark type stab, poison immunity, stick web counter and defog counter. Lets just say that this guy does a lot, and rarely fails to live up to expectations. Combining life orb and sub means he is not long for this world, but how much of the opponent's team will be left standing when he finally drops?
I recently made a post about this set singing its praises, so I won't go too crazy all over again. But a Bisharp safely behind a substitute with any form of boost, whether it be a +2 from swords dance, sticky web, or defog is just the very definition of win condition.
Zygarde @ Leftovers | Aura Break (T_T)
Impish | 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe
-Glare
-Dragon Tail
-Coil
-Earthquake
I'm still kinda getting to grips with the legendary worm, but so far he's doing a good job of spreading paralysis. As mentioned before, Zygarde aims to paralyze anything that outspeeds Yanmega or Bisharp, allowing them to paraflinch them to death with their 30% flinch chance moves Air Slash and Iron Head. Dragon Tail forces something else to come in to be paralyzed, and Coil is a good move to use while the opponent switches around trying to avoid getting their team paralyzed. EQ is pretty much mandatory, being a great move with great damage and accuracy, and STAB bonus. Ultimately my Zygarde is not attempting to sweep, but he CAN set up a boost if given the chance, which can be used to break down the opponent's team. In the end, Yanmega and Bisharp are the team's sweepers and Zygarde is there primarily to support this duo with paralysis, something which can also help
As said, Zygarde forms a strong bulky duo with Blastoise, covering Blastoise's electric weakness and also slowing down opponents for Blastoise to take advantage of with its monstrous special attack, while Blastoise can switch in happily on the ice type attacks thrown at Zygarde. I think I need more time with this pokemon to really get used to using it, but it feels good so far!
And that's my team!
I made some pretty big changes, switching out a Zapdos for mega blastoise, but I think my team benefited from it in the long-run. If you can think of ways to improve it, tell me! Hopefully I want to keep Yanmega over anything else, but please tell me if you can think of any other pokemon switches that benefit the team. I personally think the main issues to my team are pivots like Genesect, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T but with correct play they can be dealt with- Infernape has a relatively easy time vs genesect, and stealth rock really hurts all 3 pivot pokemon who are weak to being worn down- and my team is strong at keeping hazards on the field. Zygarde is a decent answer to scarf rotom and Landorus-T, taking any hit apart from Hp Ice pretty well, and being able to retaliate with dragon tail or glare respectively.
But yea, tell me what you think!
So lets get right into my team-building thought process!
TEAM BUILDING (idea stolen from other threads, ty)
Starting off the team has to include Yanmega! Slapping on a Choice Specs and it starts hitting for some particularly high damage, with very few decent switch-ins due to resistances being cancelled. This Yanmega can break walls or sweep for me, but with 95 speed and a strong but not mind-blowing 115 SpA, I'm going to have to pick pokemon that soften up the enemy team first....
So lets include a great stealth rock lead! Infernape is still strong this gen, being able to put up stealth rock while avoiding any ohkos with focus sash. Fire fighting is good coverage and he can help wear down opponents alongside yanmega with u-turn. Getting up my own rocks is important, so I now need a pokemon who can get rid of their rocks without defogging my own- Yanmega gets obliterated by stealth rock, and Infernape would definitely appreciate being able to switch in again while at 1hp...
Usually you would frown on using a mega-slot for a support role, but Mega Blastoise is so reliable as a rapid spinner and my team needs that- he also packs a huge punch and gives some great coverage! Mega Blastoise is a good all-rounder, but ultimately his main aim is to get rid of those pesky rocks that hinder my team. Now I've dealt with their stealth rock, I want to add a ghost to keep mine up!
And so Gengar joins the fray! What's great about Gengar is that he can also take out anything that worries me with a quick Destiny Bond- due to the nature of my team, I am trying to wear down the opponent by trading hits until a healthy Yanmega can switch in and clean up their team. Having a very fast Destiny Bond to take out something problematic is great for this purpose, and blocking rapid spin is great for Yanmega's endgame sweep too. In fact, residual damage is pretty damn important for my team- it REALLY helps me deal with rotom-W and genesect, perhaps enough so that I want someone who can deal with Defoggers too...
Bisharp is a great addition to the team, filling a lot of holes- he offers important steel typing, important dark typing and resistance to dark and ghost, as well as countering defog, sticky web, and offering some insanely powerful priority. I think its a testament to how good he is that a pokemon with a BST of under 500 is so dominant in today's metagame. For my team, Bisharp offers scary revenge killing capabilities as well as being my secondary sweeper. With him, my team is looking pretty much complete! All that's left is something decent to wall physical threats. Also, whilst my team isn't TOO slow, the pokemon that I'm intending to sweep (Bisharp and Yanmega) are not that fast either... looks like there's only one pokemon for the job!
Zygarde... a very underused and misunderstood (perhaps also by myself) pokemon. He always intrigued me as a pokemon and so I'm taking the opportunity to use him and find out more about him! He's actually been fulfilling his role well- spreading status with glare and dragon tail, while offering thunder wave immunity himself- and with his help, Bisharp and Yanmega are able to take out several threats they otherwise couldn't! What's more, both Bisharp and Yanmega are able to use paraflinch on a paralyzed pokemon, both having access to 30% flinch moves (Air Slash and Iron Head). Most paralyzed pokemon will lose vs my two sweepers, so Zygarde is definitely a useful asset!
So with the team complete, I will introduce the movesets and explain my reasoning behind the moves.
Yanmega @ Choice Specs | Tinted Lens
Modest | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Bug Buzz
-Air Slash
-Shadow Ball
-U-Turn
So Yanmega is the team which I built this team around, and hopefully for good reason! Not many pokemon can soak up its attacks, with only Magnezone and Aggron having a resistance to air slash after tinted lens, and 10 pokemon in total who can resist bug buzz- togekiss, mawile, klefki, infernape, heatran, charizard, talonflame, chandelure, skarmory, and aegislash. What's great is that no pokemon in the game resists both STABs, so correct choice means Yanmega can be a fantastic clean-up with a specs, and with nothing resisting its attacks by x4, specs will still do reasonable damage to anything that switches in, besides Blissey and the pink blob crew.
With both STABs being incredible coverage by themselves, and U-turn being good to let Yanmega scout, Shadow Ball is the final move, giving Yanmega a tool to smack Aegislash (and I guess Chandelure) with and with shadow ball being resisted by nothing due to tinted lens, the only thing that Yanmega has to worry about is Normal types- and Blissey and Chansey are full-stops to Yanmega anyway.
Honestly I feel this pokemon is good enough this gen to be used more than the 0.43% usage that it is receiving...
I ended up going modest nature due to the metagame slowing down a lot this gen and due to having paralysis support. This means he outspeeds everything as slow as Gyarados.. not too bad, but it definitely emphasizes the need for team support.
Infernape @ Focus Sash | Blaze
Rash | 64 Atk / 192 SpA / 252 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Mach Punch
-Overheat
-U-Turn
So Infernape is often my lead in this team, and he excels at putting up stealth rock with high speed and a focus sash. He also offers some much needed priority if he survives, and 64 attack EVs are enough to ohko bisharp with full hp investment most of the time- he can switch in at 1hp on a sucker punch or sword's dance, and proceed to outspeed the next sucker punch and ohko. Anyways, this set I believe is well known enough for me to not have to sing its praises. Infernape is one of the "suicide leads" that can actually stay alive for a surprising amount of time at 1hp.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite | Rain Dish
Modest | 252 Hp / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
-Rapid Spin
-Dark Pulse
-Aura Sphere
-Water Pulse
What an underrated mega-evolution. While mega-blastoise might fail as a sweeper due to unfortunate speed, he's one of the most reliable support pokemon in the game. With dark pulse, he obliterates all ghosts including specially defensive Sableye- this means I can keep rocks off the field for my Yanmega and Infernape with relative ease. Also a bulky water type is quite useful for my team, providing a good source of special bulk which my team somewhat lacks. He takes all the rock, ice and fire type attacks aimed at yanmega with ease and provides a good defensive core with zygarde, with zygarde being immune to electric and blastoise resisting ice type attacks.
Gengar @ Black Sludge | Levitate
Timid | 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Disable
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond
So Gengar is on my team due to his very useful immunities and utility as a spinblocker. I've opted for a Sub Destiny Bond set, as I find it extremely useful to have a pokemon who can just instantly take out any slower threat which my team struggles to wear down with attacks and passive damage- for instance, a clefable who has accumulated too many boosts. While it can be played around, most people do not expect destiny bond. Gengar gives my team some speed, with many of the other pokemon not being quite as fast as is needed to take out base 100s.
I could end up changing the disable on this set for focus blast, but I really despise the miss chance on that move. I know I will end up keeping Sub, Shadow Ball, and Destiny Bond though. Perhaps Will-O-Wisp is a good choice to surprise any physical attackers, or Taunt to force people to attack and trigger Destiny Bond would be a better choice. Disable has not been quite as useful as I'd hoped.
Bisharp @ Life Orb | Defiant
Adamant | 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Sucker Punch
-Sword's Dance
-Iron Head
Good old Bisharp. This pokemon fits so perfectly into today's meta, its so anti-meta its almost meta. Substitute turns sucker punch into an actually reliable attack, and iron head can paraflinch anything to death which has been previously paralyzed by Zygarde. Bisharp is my team's secondary sweeper, crucial Dark type stab, poison immunity, stick web counter and defog counter. Lets just say that this guy does a lot, and rarely fails to live up to expectations. Combining life orb and sub means he is not long for this world, but how much of the opponent's team will be left standing when he finally drops?
I recently made a post about this set singing its praises, so I won't go too crazy all over again. But a Bisharp safely behind a substitute with any form of boost, whether it be a +2 from swords dance, sticky web, or defog is just the very definition of win condition.
Zygarde @ Leftovers | Aura Break (T_T)
Impish | 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe
-Glare
-Dragon Tail
-Coil
-Earthquake
I'm still kinda getting to grips with the legendary worm, but so far he's doing a good job of spreading paralysis. As mentioned before, Zygarde aims to paralyze anything that outspeeds Yanmega or Bisharp, allowing them to paraflinch them to death with their 30% flinch chance moves Air Slash and Iron Head. Dragon Tail forces something else to come in to be paralyzed, and Coil is a good move to use while the opponent switches around trying to avoid getting their team paralyzed. EQ is pretty much mandatory, being a great move with great damage and accuracy, and STAB bonus. Ultimately my Zygarde is not attempting to sweep, but he CAN set up a boost if given the chance, which can be used to break down the opponent's team. In the end, Yanmega and Bisharp are the team's sweepers and Zygarde is there primarily to support this duo with paralysis, something which can also help
As said, Zygarde forms a strong bulky duo with Blastoise, covering Blastoise's electric weakness and also slowing down opponents for Blastoise to take advantage of with its monstrous special attack, while Blastoise can switch in happily on the ice type attacks thrown at Zygarde. I think I need more time with this pokemon to really get used to using it, but it feels good so far!
And that's my team!
I made some pretty big changes, switching out a Zapdos for mega blastoise, but I think my team benefited from it in the long-run. If you can think of ways to improve it, tell me! Hopefully I want to keep Yanmega over anything else, but please tell me if you can think of any other pokemon switches that benefit the team. I personally think the main issues to my team are pivots like Genesect, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T but with correct play they can be dealt with- Infernape has a relatively easy time vs genesect, and stealth rock really hurts all 3 pivot pokemon who are weak to being worn down- and my team is strong at keeping hazards on the field. Zygarde is a decent answer to scarf rotom and Landorus-T, taking any hit apart from Hp Ice pretty well, and being able to retaliate with dragon tail or glare respectively.
But yea, tell me what you think!