Monotype The Iron Mercenaries (Steel Mono: Peak ~1600)

[Blumenwitz]

Fighting was always my specialty type back during ORAS, but I heard it wasn't doing too well in this meta, so I decided to switch over to Steel. Peaked around 1600, subsequently plummeted to 1400 after a really bad run, and then I managed to claw my way back into the low 1500s. I get the feeling that this team is missing something... I just don't know what.

Anyway, here's the team!

Cyrano (Scizor-Mega) (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

"Have at thee, scoundrel!"

Mega Scizor represents one half of my main offensive core, along with Magnezone (who I'll get to in just a second). The set I have here is a pretty typical bulky pivot set, with an EV spread designed to maximize bulk and power, with just enough speed to outpace most Mega Venusaurs. U-Turn, of course, allows him to pivot into his partner whenever he's faced with a wall he can't muscle past.

Automaton (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]

"CRUSH! KILL! EXTERMINATE!"

Magnezone is a wonderful partner for Mega Scizor, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the two of them have that Volt-Turn dynamic that ensures that offensive momentum is always on my side. More importantly, Magnet Pull lets it trap and pick off bulky Steel types that Mega Scizor just can't deal with, namely Skarmory and Ferrothorn (though it still has to stay wary of Celesteelas packing Flamethrower or Earthquake). Its typing also lets it check a lot of bulky Waters, many of whom also give Mega Scizor a hard time.

Jethro (Heatran) (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk/ 152 SpA / 80 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power Stone Edge

"I reckon you picked the wrong fella to start flamin'."

Heatran is practically a necessity on Steel teams, providing them with a line of defense against Fire teams (or anything else packing Fire-type coverage, which is practically everything these days). His ability, combined with Air Balloon, allows him to switch into both Fire and Ground-type moves with impunity (which is really helpful when dealing with, say, other Heatrans).

The EVs are designed to give it some offensive presence and enough speed to outpace Alolan Marowak and Modest Magnezone, while still providing it with enough bulk to switch in often. As for his coverage moves, they're for giving my team additional leverage against Fire-type threats, particularly ZardY.

Pearl (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon Aura Sphere
- Volt Switch
- Ice Beam

"Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

Magearna is basically my SpA sponge, using its fantastic defensive typing (along with its Assault Vest) to switch into most special attackers, particularly Latios and Mega Alakazam. With AV, it even has enough power to survive an Earth Power from Nidoking or Landorus (and OHKO them both with Ice Beam). Once it switches in safely, it can either a) nuke the opposition with Fleur Cannon, or b) pivot into a physical attacker, if it's faced with a special wall.

As for the moveset, it's pretty self-explanatory. Fleur Cannon for STAB, Volt Switch for pivoting, and Ice Beam and Aura Sphere for additional coverage.

Valkyrie (Excadrill) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

"With these claws, I will tear your soul asunder!"

Excadrill here is my team's main source of physical power, aside from Scizor. She provides my team with a second line of defense against Fire-type teams (well, technically, a line of offense, but as they say, the best defense is a good offense) so I'm not totally screwed if Heatran should go down. She's also really useful against Electric teams, who give my team a fair amount of trouble otherwise.

Earthquake and Iron Head are her main STABS, while Rock Slide lets her nail Flying-types on the switchin. Rapid Spin is for hazard control, obviously, though I'm considering swapping it out for another coverage move, like Brick Break or X-Scissor, since my team doesn't really mind hazards all that much, aside from Sticky Web (and Spikes, but I don't see those very often). Thoughts?

Athena (Celesteela) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
- Protect

"Please quit while you're ahead. You can never hope to breach my exterior."

Celesteela here is my physical wall. Its bulk and typing allow it to absorb blows from a lot of prominent Ground attackers who can otherwise plow through my team (it helps that most Ground-types are physically oriented). Giga Drain gives it some offensive presence against those very same Ground-types, and provides it with a secondary source of recovery apart from leftovers. Aside from that, it has Toxic to whittle down mons who would otherwise wall it completely, and Protect to stall them out (and grab extra turns of leftovers recovery).

Melchior (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind

"Oh, dear. Did I drop my caltrops all over your field?"

I decided to swap out Celesteela for Skarmory, since ultimately what my team needed was a physical wall and Fighting check, and Skarmory does that better. Basically, its role is to tank physical blows, force switches and use the free turns to lay down a few layers of spikes. The rest of the moveset's pretty self-explanatory, with Brave Bird for STAB, Roost for recovery, and Whirlwind to phase out setup sweepers and rack up hazard damage.

And there you have it! Any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

[Eien]

Nice ladder run! Your team is mostly fine, but I got quite a few optimizations for you to try out.

First, on Heatran, I think you should try a bulkier spread. Being slower than opposing Heatran means you're going to really struggle in Steel vs Steel. You don't invest enough bulk to actually survive the Earth Power from offensive Heatran. Remember, their Heatran will also have Air Balloon + Earth Power, so being slower means you need to be bulkier in order to have a chance. So, you should try using 252 HP / 24 Atk / 152 SpD / 80 Spe with a Calm nature instead. I'll explain it all. First, Ancient Power doesn't actually OHKO Mega Charizard Y! You need Stone Edge > Ancient Power to get that OHKO, and 24 Attack EVs gives you the guaranteed OHKO. 80 Speed makes sure you're still faster than Pokemon like Omastar and Golurk while still also outspeeding offensive Alolan Marowak, offensive Alolan Golem, and Azumarill. The rest of the EVs should be dumped into Special Defense to make sure you can survive that Earth Power. I know you wanted damage, but it's just not efficient because you're going to be missing out on KOs.

For Magearna, the optimal Assault Vest spread is 200 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe. 200 HP and 12 Defense EVs makes sure you always survive Choice Scarf Excadrill's Earthquake, while 44 Speed EVs keeps you faster than Skarmory and Mantine. Secondly, Aura Sphere > Flash Cannon is simply necessary coverage to let Magearna hit Steel-types like the aforementioned Excadrill and opposing Heatran as well. I personally often don't use Ice Beam, but I understand you want to guarantee the KO on Landorus (Fleur Cannon can sometimes fail to OHKO!) and even have a chance to KO Nidoking as well, so that's fine.

Regarding your question about Excadrill, Rapid Spin is honestly not used very often. However, you lack Spikes, meaning you struggle a lot against other teams that do stack Spikes. I would definitely keep Rapid Spin to help out with those matchups. Furthermore, Sticky Web may not affect this team that much, but it's still an annoyance! You noted both of these weaknesses correctly, and while they aren't very common, I would definitely not weaken those matchups. X-Scissor is tempting, but if you do the damage calculations, it can't actually KO anything relevant, so it's not worth it. Brick Break doesn't actually hit anything either, so I would definitely not use it. However, if you really don't like Rapid Spin, you should try Toxic! Excadrill baits in walls all the time. Slowbro, Zapdos, Porygon2, Mew, Hippowdon. All of these Pokemon love to switch into Excadrill, and Toxic completely cripples them. It also gives you another wincon against Mega Sableye thanks to Mold Breaker, but you have Magearna for that anyway, to be fair.

Celesteela is a bit harder to discuss because there are two ways to go here. The first option is to replace it with Skarmory instead. Celesteela's biggest advantage over Skarmory is that it helps a lot against Ground by checking Landorus, but you have Assault Vest Magearna already. Skarmory would give you Spikes support and the physical wall you're trying to use Celesteela as. However, if you don't want to switch out Celesteela, and that's honestly a fine choice as well, we should definitely use a different spread and moveset. A better EV spread and nature would be Careful with 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD. This lets Celesteela actually check Landorus properly. Choice Band Excadrill still fails to break Celesteela most of the time, so don't worry about that! Celesteela lacks the overwhelming physical bulk of Skarmory, so investing into Special Defense helps it take on a few more threats. Furthermore, this special bulk will really help when combined with the new moveset. For your moves, definitely use Earthquake and Leech Seed > Toxic and Giga Drain. Earthquake combines with your new special bulk to let you check Heatran. You can lure in a Heatran and then even sometimes OHKO it with Earthquake! Leech Seed is also great because it gives Celesteela a real way to heal, as it lacks longevity otherwise. Losing Toxic isn't a really big deal because Celesteela doesn't actually face off against opposing walls very often, as they tend to hate being hit by Leech Seed anyway (maybe consider using Toxic on Excadrill now huh? That's an interesting idea!). And honestly, Celesteela checks Ground-types well enough without needing to resort to counter teaming with Giga Drain, so I would definitely remove that for Leech Seed, which gives you much better recovery. (As a side note, I recommend Earthquake over Flamethrower because you have Magnezone to trap and take out Skarmory and opposing Celesteela)

Most of these changes are really just optimizing certain EV spreads or making minor changes to movesets, so I think you'll find your team plays very similarly but with a bit more success. The team is solid and just needed a little polish. I hope this helps and good luck getting even higher on the ladder!

changed sets

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 152 SpD / 80 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 200 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Aura Sphere
- Volt Switch
- Ice Beam

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Leech Seed
- Protect

And here's the Excadrill set if you choose to change it:

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Toxic

And the Skarmory set:

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind

 

[Blumenwitz]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'm going to switch over to Skarmory, since my team needs a member that can soak up physical blows (at least I think so). That said, if I do decide to use specially defensive Celesteela, should I give Scizor a more defensive EV spread, or just keep it as is?

 

[Eien]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'm going to switch over to Skarmory, since my team needs a member that can soak up physical blows (at least I think so). That said, if I do decide to use specially defensive Celesteela, should I give Scizor a more defensive EV spread, or just keep it as is?

I don't think a defensive Mega Scizor is necessary; Steel teams are pretty naturally physically bulky. Your spread is fine, but if you want, you can definitely go with a more defensive set too.

 

[Blumenwitz]

All right, just tested out the changes, and so far I definitely see an improvement! I repeaked around the mid-1600s, and now I'm sitting around 1580. The changes I accepted are in the OP.

However... there's one type that still gives me a hell of a hard time, and that's Dragon. I know it sounds weird, but I'd seriously rather fight Water, Fighting or even Fire. The reason is that it seems like every Dragon-type and its mother carries both Fire and Ground coverage. Mega Garchomp, especially, is a problem for me.

In fact, I'm considering swapping out HP Fire on Magnezone for HP Ice. I know that HP Fire is important for taking out trapped Steel types, but Jesus, I don't know how else I can keep those damned Garchomps in check.