ORAS OU The Altaria Squad, kind of balanced ft. Infernape

[Soleil Noir]

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Hi smogon ! Today I will present one of my newest teams, and the first non-offense team i built since a while. It is not an incredible team, but I really like to play it so I decided to make an rmt of this team. So, without anymore claptrap, let's see the teambuilding process o/


Teambuilding Process

So, I started with a core of Altaria-Mega and Reuniclus, something I find really cool.

This duo is incredibly weak to 2 common threats: Weavile and Bisharp. Also, it struggles a bit against some steel types, so I decided to add defensive Infernape, which provides a really good check to Scizor (mega or not), Weavile, Bisharp, and also can spread burns pretty easily, which helps a lot the two other members of the squad to setup.

At this point, the squad was very very Fairy weak, and also some mons like M-Metagross also were a huge pain. So I decided to add a SpDef Skarmory, which also provides Stealth Rock support, which is a good thing.

The team was pretty cool, but it lacks of any Hazard Control. Also, I wanted something to trap Psychic-Types, because I run Focus Blast on my Reuniclus, so I decided to add a sand-core, with Excadrill and Tyranitar.

The team looks quite great at this point, so let's see the sets.



The Sets



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Moonsong (Altaria) @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 96 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Return
- Roost
- Dragon Dance
- Heal Bell / Refresh


So this is the first member of the squad, the standard King DDD set, which is really good at checking a lot of common OU threats, thanks to M-Altarias's awesome typing. The EVs allows this poké to avoid a lot of 2HKOs, like +1 CharizardX's Flare Blitz, Thundurus' HP Ice, or Mega Lopunny's Return. The speed EVs allows this fluufy thing to outspeed max invested+positive nature 135 speed base stats mon, like Mega Lopunny or Mega Manectric. The moves are also really standards, Return dor a powerful stab (thanks to Pixilate), Roost grants to this mon a really good staying power, Dragon Dance beacause the purpose of the set is to slowly setup more and more DDs on mons that can't threaten us. Finally, Heal Bell is cool, because it allows to setup on things like Rotom-W. Refresh is also something to consider in this slot, becaus it has a lot more of PPs, but Heal Bell heals the entire squad, even if the team is not really that threatened by status (Reuniclus like to take any status bar paralysis, and Excadrill can take it). Earthquake is also an option I guess, but I prefer being able to cure the status.


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Oppression (Reuniclus) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Recover​

This weird baby is litteraly god. Thanks to his fantastic ability, this thing can destroy a lot of unprepared builds. Also it il really a good stallbreaker, even if this set can't hit M-Sableye. So, the EV spread is standard, 56 SpD EVs allow the blob to not be 2HKO most of the time by M-Diancie's Moonblast (if not Modest/Rash), the rest of EV are in HP and Defense to grants this thing with a really good bulk, allowing him to check a lot of threats, like M-Lopunny, Keldeo, M-Manectric... The moves are also standard, Calm Mind to put a really good pressure on more defensive build, while also increasing his good defensife capabilities, Psyshock for a goo stab, also allowing to win moreless any CMWar, and Focus Blast hits steel-types like Ferrothorn or Heatran, while also allowing to hit Dark-Types like Bisharp or Weavile on a predicted switch-in. Finally, Recover to increase the good staying power of this thing.

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Eyes of Flame (Infernape) @ Leftovers
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 124 SpD / 48 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Slack Off
- Taunt
- Low Kick

A really cool set of a really cool mon: defensive Infernape. Even if this thing has not a good bulk (76/71/71 is decent for a sweeper but not really good for a more defensive mon), his good movepool and his fairly good typing allows him to have a little niche in OU, especially because it can check really well a lot of threats in OU, like Weavile, Scizor or Bisharp. So, the spread is standard, Max HP, enough Defense to avoid especially burned Hippowdon's Earthquake, enough SpDef to avoid the OHKO by Kyurem-Black's Earth Power, and enough Speed to outspeed anything slower than a base 80 with max investment. The moves are also standards: Will-O-Wisp is really cool on a fast mon like Infernape, Slack Off allows him to heal back, Taunt is also a cool thing, especially against mons like Garchomp/Hippowdon. Finally, Low Kick is a Stab, because Close Combat lowers his defenses, which is not really a good thing for a defensive set. Also Low Kick still allows to hit hards mons like Heatran/Ferrothorn/Bisharp, and even Weavile, even if you can't OHKO M-Lopunny with this move (but well, this team has like 3 checks to this thing and you can also burn him instead of click Low kick, so it's not really a bad thing).



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Mischievious Robot (Skarmory) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- Counter

Also a really standard set, SpDef Skarmory, thanks to his good typing (yes, I know, I said that for the 3 previous mons but well) can check a lot of threats in the OU metagame, like M-Diancie, M-Gardevoir, Excadrill... I run Shed Shell because Zone+Fairy can be really dangerous, becauseSkarm is my only check to almost every Fairy-Type, and switch in to Excadrill on a Zone's Thunderbolt is really cool :] The spread is standard asf, Max HP and SpDef to check better M-Diancie/Gardevoir/SpecsVeon. For the moves, Iron Head allows me to hit Fairy Types, and Brave Bird is useless on the team, Stealth Rock because best move in the game bar Scald, Roost to increase his staying power, and Counter is pretty cool on Skarm, because it his my only M-Metagross counter, and he can't deal a lot of damages to him with Iron Head. It can also be used for things like M-Scizor, even if I have Infernape for these.



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Scorching Back (Tyranitar) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
- Crunch


Not a really standard set, but a cool one. I originally ran Hippowdon on this slot, but I was incredibly weak to M-Slowbro, and it was sad. So I finally decide to ran this thing, who also provides sand Support, but also can trap Psychic-Types for Reuniclus, and wallbreak. The EV spread allows to outspeed 8 Speed EVs Mandibuzz, the rest is put on Attack and HP to hit really hard while being able to tank some hits (especially with the sandstorm SpDef boost). The move are standard, Pursuit to trap Psychic-Types, Crunch and Stone Edge are really hard-hitting stabs, and Superpower for coverage against Ferrothorn, Heatran, Bisharp...




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Running Hell (Excadrill) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin​

Last but not least, Excadrill. Thing this is really cool paired with defensive Infernape, because most of the time people are going to switch-in a ground type like Landorus, Hippowdon or Garchomp on Nape, and he can juts burns them, and drastically reduce their staying power for our friend Excadrill. It is also my main way to deal with HO builds. The spread is really standard, max Attack adamant allows to hit really hard, the rest is put on speed to outspeed moreless the whole metagame under SandStorm. For the moves, Earthquake and Iron Head are great stabs, Rock Slide for the SlideQuake, an Rapid Spin because it is a cool move, even if my team don't really has a bad time with the SR. ​

The Threats

This thing, in a CM set, is just a huge pain and makes my cry ,_, Well, it can setup especially on Skarmory, and after one or two CM, he is just unstoppable. Banded Tyranitar can barely 2HKO's it, only if Scald does not burn me, if it does, it basically game

This thing is also a pain, even if it is quite difficult for him to setup a Tail Glow, if he does and is not in range of Excadrill's Earthquake, it's game. RainCM set is also pretty unstoppable if Altaria is weakened enough.

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I only have a few things to hit Shedinja, and each of them can be trapped by Dugtrio. If coupled with a good hzard control, it's really difficult to pass these mons.

Export:

http://pastebin.com/yVwt2n6q

(feel totally free to use it, just keep the nicknames)
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[yuruuu]

Ohaiyo.

I like your team, but I do not understand the purpose of Skarmory on your team. Instead, I would think Gyarados fits better here, sharing exceptional type synergy with Excadrill, and providing Intimidate support for Mega Altaria and providing immense offensive pressure in having two Dragon Dancers. This gives you an additional win-condition in the event that Mega Altaria cannot set up. Gyarados can also threaten Mega Venusaur with Bounce, and help your team with it.

An option you can try on Excadrill is Toxic over Iron Head, which allows you to lure Slowbro and bulky Ground types that like to switch into it, then stall them out with Reuniclus. It's a really good option on your team, as you do not have anything that can stop CM Slowbro atm, and Toxic provides a very useful lure for these Pokemon. Yep, Toxic Sand Rush Excadrill, heh.

Lastly, I would try Keldeo over Infernape, as a check to Weavile / Mega Scizor / various steel types, and wears in Mega Venusaur so that you can clean up with Mega Altaria / Gyarados. Here, I am not entirely sure, but I think Roseli Berry could be a cool option to try, as your team is very weak to Fairies, and saccing something to lure Mega Gardevoir so it cannot come in again could be extremely useful. It also acts as an effective lure to check Diancie-Mega once you reveal you are not scarf, which naturally outspeeds Mega Altaria and is a huge threat to the team. Of course, you could run something more standard if you do not wish to run Roseli Berry. Just an option I'm throwing out.

Your team is very weak to Electrics and my rate doesn't really help with that, but I guess you could try to revenge them with Sand. I couldn't think of a rate that would help against that matchup.