THE PERSISTENT MONKEY
AN XY OU RMT
XY OU has been a very difficult metagame for me to get good at and enjoy. Not only did a multitude of metagame changing bans occur, (such as Aegislash, Deoxys forms, and Mega Mawile) but my lack of success with using Infernape, which is a Pokemon I’ve been so dedicated to having success it’s likely an obsession. Ever since BW2, this monkey has never been able to fit on a long-term successful team. I would always go on a short spree with such teams, only to lose out to really good opponents and end up with the team being scrapped due to the team not working as well as I would have hoped with a mixture of self-doubt. With Aegislash and Mega Mawile gone, I decided to try to make Infernape work one last time, but this time with a more open mind.AN XY OU RMT
Usually, I would try to use Infernape in Hyper Offense (HO) teams, as that is where most frail offensive Pokemon fit in. However, each set just had a lot of competition (whether Terrakion or Garchomp for the lead set, or Keldeo and Kyurem-B for the mixed set) its movepool wasn’t enough to offset the fact that sheer power and natural bulk means much more, which Infernape cannot provide but these other Pokemon can. This time I used Bulky Offense, a playstyle that has really been shining ever since the Mega Mawile ban. Infernape’s coverage and ability to take out threats that Infernape has competition with means a lot more since now you have Pokemon that can actually switch-in and take repeated attacks reliably while still having the offensive presence to provide momentum for the team.
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS:
I started off pairing Infernape with a Pokemon I knew was very good on Bulky Offensive teams, Mega Gardevoir. This Pokemon is absolutely amazing. Pixilate Hyper Voice coming from a base 165 Special Attack means anything that doesn’t resist Fairy is not going to appreciate taking one. Thanks to her STAB Psyshock and Focus Blast, the only Pokemon that can safely switch into her are Mega Scizor and Jirachi. That being said, she still has problems with Ferrothorn and Heatran if you don’t predict the switch, which Infernape handles all four. Mega Gardevoir is also absolutely squishy on the physical side, allowing even resisted moves such as Latios’ Psyshock almost 2HKO her. Combine this with her relatively slow 100 base speed, and she might not even be able to hit anybody vs HO teams.
Offensively Latios provides similar aspects to Mega Gardevoir, but instead with a STAB LO Draco Meteor, which makes it slightly more vulnerable as he has to predict more in order to get passed Fairies. What he does provide, however, is a nice defensive typing. This allows him to check many threatening Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Keldeo, and Mega Manectric while being able to hit hard with his own moves. His base speed is also one of the key components to his usefulness, as it allows him to outspeed much more common Pokemon such as the aforementioned Keldeo, Landorus, Garchomp, and even speed tie with Gengar if need be. This makes Latios more useful vs HO teams which makes the concept of this team much more consistent.
This team really lacked something for Bird Spam, Rain Offense, as well as Sand Offense. This team also needed a Pokemon that could use U-Turn or Volt Switch so the aforementioned 3 can get safe switch-ins into whatever is sent out to stop this Pokemon. I decided that Rotom-W would work incredibly well, since Rotom-W provides all of these into one slot, as well as providing me with a nice bulky water.
This team still had one glaring weakness, it was lacking in speed. With fast threats like Greninja, Gengar, Lati@s and Mega Manectric, roaming the tier, I really needed a Pokemon that could revenge kill these Pokemon even at high percentages. I also needed a check to a really threatening Pokemon known as DD Charizard X. Scarf Landorus-T was really the only option, but he works great. He has enough bulk to switch-in on otherwise huge threats such as Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham without Ice Punch. Being able to provide safe switch-ins with U-Turn is just a plus.
While Rotom-W is most certainly a good Pokemon for this team. It often ended up being overburdened with all the archetypes it was supposed to check, as well as being my go to switch-in for most water types in the metagame, and this would end up to a greatly exposed team after Rotom-W would be whittled down to 0 HP thanks to its lack of reliable recovery. This was especially the case for rain, as at least with Landorus-T there was back up for Bird Spam and Sand Offense. Also, while Mega Gardevoir can check many dragons, her frailty really prevented this from being utilized on a consistent level. Ferrothorn solves this, as he can switch into many of these Pokemon’s STAB moves such as Azumarill and Latios and can work around from there thanks to his great typing and bulk. He also provides Stealth Rock, an amazing move that should be on almost every team if possible due to its ability to punish switching, especially with Bird Spam being so common, and allow some really nice KOs to be scored. This concludes the team building process.
TEAM SHOWCASE:
Olympus (Infernape) (M)
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 168 Atk / 132 SpA / 208 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge
I didn’t really explain what he does for the team in process section, so this one will be longer than most. Infernape manages to provide a nice Fighting type wall-breaker for the team, that manages to beat many threats the rest of my team is otherwise weak to, including Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Bisharp. Sure, Keldeo can also do this, but what makes Infernape unique is his ability to team up well and beat up many stall Pokemon, especially after Stealth Rock. 132 Special Attack EVs allow Infernape to 2HKO many common stall Pokemon such as Mega Venusaur, as well as 2HKO Physically defensive Clefable, and also makes Mew even harder to switch-in on reliably, especially with passive damage. However, Mega Gardevoir beats all of these 1v1, so while it would be hard for Mega Gardevoir to send in on Mega Venusaur, what is the point when I could still just use Keldeo and just have a little bit of a harder time. What really changes things up, however, is Mach Punch. This seems incredibly mediocre at first, but it’s a really big deal. First, SD Bisharp is a really big threat on this team, and often times Infernape is the only Pokemon that can reliably beat it, as Landorus-T just ends up giving Bisharp a +1 if he tries to revenge kill. Sure, Keldeo can check, but with the fact that Keldeo ends up losing at least 77% from a +2 Sucker Punch, and with hazards and residual damage being such a problem for Keldeo especially on a team like this, I have a much more reliable way of handling the threat known as Bisharp. Mach Punch is incredibly useful as well for beating other hard threats including Crawdaunt, Greninja, and can very well revenge kill other threats such as Mega Manectric and Mega Aerodactyl under 40%, which is really nice especially since this team has no priority otherwise. Infernape has Stone Edge because Mega Charizard Y is oftentimes paired with Tyranitar which makes Latios not the most reliable answer, since a solid prediction can make me lose matches versus that team. With Stone Edge now, my team actually handles Mega Charizard Y teams relatively well. Stone Edge also stops Mega Charizard X from setting up, as that plus Mach Punch prevents another massive threat from setting up.
Olympus (Infernape) (M)
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 168 Atk / 132 SpA / 208 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge
Gardevoir (F)
Item: Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes (This is mandatory)
EVs: 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe [IVs: 0 Atk]
Nature: Timid
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Mega Gardevoir provides great offensive prowess and, with Infernape, provides all I need to work consistently well against stall teams. The sheer prowess she possesses with STAB Pixilate Hyper Voice is amazing, and even with a Timid nature, she can clean 2HKO anybody that doesn’t resist it, including Stealth Rock Clefable, despite having Special Defense investment. Speaking of Timid nature, that is to outspeed Mega Heracross even in her base form, and allowing her to speed tie other Mega wall-breakers such as Mega Medicham, and both Charizard forms. Psyshock prevents Mega Venusaur from being a switch-in to Mega Gardevoir, taking upwards of 80% to even the most defensive of sets, as well as allowing you to have a chance vs Chansey. Focus Blast, while unreliable, makes Mega Gardevoir able to 2HKO Sp.D Ferrothorn and Heatran, doing a clean 70% to both of them, meaning they cannot consistently switch-in order to take a Hyper Voice. Taunt lets Mega Gardevoir allows her to stop bulkier Pokemon to set up at all, and guarantees that she is able to beat a plethora of threats, such as Cresselia, Mew, Clefable, and Chansey. Even if not Mega Evolved, Trace allows Gardevoir to beat BP teams in the most troll fashion if she gets Prankster. Even with her defense and speed stat being lackluster, 24 Def EVs allows her to avoid the 2HKO on LO Latios’ Psyshock even after Stealth Rock, and with him being such a common Pokemon for HO teams, Mega Gardevoir should at least get off one hit vs HO, which will heavily dent anyone on the switch or score a KO before fainting herself.
Latios (M)
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe [IVs: 0 Atk]
Nature: Timid
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost
Latios essentially fulfills Mega Gardevoir’s role vs HO teams, as with 252 Sp.A EVs and a Life Orb, common Pokemon used for those playstyles will not like a Draco Meteor at all, as even resists such as Excadrill take 54% minimum, and Azumarill, the only common Fairy type on HO teams, gets clean 2HKO’d by Psyshock. Speaking of Psyshock, Psyshock also gives Latios the ability to take care of Mega Venusaur, AV Raikou, Conkeldurr, Mega Heracross, and any Fighting type without having to drop his Special Attack. For the last attacking move, I put Surf in as more of a middle ground, allowing me to beat Air Balloon Heatran as well as Air Balloon Drill. Most importantly, however, it allows me to beat Specially Defensive Gliscor, who can really give this team trouble otherwise. Finally, despite having no hazard removal, I decided to put Roost on Latios. The reason is because Latios was often times my only switch-in to many common threats in the meta, including Keldeo, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Charizard Y. Recoil and taking in damage on the switch-ins would really hurt him, and would often times cause me to lose my only reliable hard check to these Pokemon too soon and allow the opponent to have a huge advantage. None of my team members were incredibly weak to hazards, as Spikes is mostly on Stall teams which is already handled by Infernape and Mega Gardevoir, as well as having nobody weak to Stealth Rock and my team doing well vs Sticky Web teams anyways.
Rotom-W
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe [IVs: 0 Atk]
Nature: Bold
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Fulfilling the role of a bulky water, an Electric type that checks Bird Spam, and a check to Sand Offense, Rotom-W generally always does something in a match no matter what the playstyle is. The EVs are really standard, taking 44 Speed EVs to make sure I can outspeed even the fastest of Azumarill’s, and either hit it with a Will-o-Wisp and severely cripple them or Volt Switch out and gain momentum. 248 HP EVs along with 216 Defense EVs allows me to check Bird Spam reliably and take a Play Rough twice from Azumarill. For the moves, Volt Switch is key as it allows my team to gain a lot of momentum by granting members of my team to take care of Pokemon Rotom-W dislikes while not having to risk any of my Pokemon taking much damage, which is important, especially with Infernape and Gardevoir’s frailty. Hydro Pump lets me take care of Specially Defensive Talonflame, as well as Excadrill, and just in general hits decently hard. Will-O-Wisp is extremely nice as it means it can cripple many physical attackers such as Mega Pinsir, Mega Scizor, and Garchomp, allowing them to be much less of a threat and even allow switch-in opportunities for myself due to the fact that the burn cushions many otherwise KO potential moves. (i.e. letting Garchomp not 2HKO Gardevoir with Earthquake) Another huge factor is the fact that it gives my team some form of residual damage besides Stealth Rocks, allowing more defensive Pokemon to be worn into 2HKO range of my more offensive Pokemon or getting stalled out by Ferrothorn. Some examples that have occurred to me is how Infernape can now reliably 2HKO Mega Venusaur after just 1 turn of burn, or how my Ferrothorn can easily beat the opposing burned Ferrothorn 1v1. Finally, Pain Split allows Rotom-W to recover HP if the opposing Pokemon on the field has a good amount of HP, and makes Rotom-W more consistent and annoying for the opponent.
Landorus-T (M)
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Atk / 212 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off
This Pokemon is incredibly good, he revenge kills so many Pokemon such as Mega Manectric, Latios, Greninja, +1 Mega Charizard X, and Gengar, while being bulky enough to switch-in on many common threats in the meta, including Excadrill, Mega Charizard X, Mega Aerodactyl, and more. It’s no wonder why he’s on most bulky offense teams as a glue, which is exactly what he fulfills on my team! I put in considerably more bulk (140 HP EVs, to be exact) on my Landorus-T than usual, however, simply because he usually has to take a neutral move at least once per match, and being able to take a hit better really helps Landorus-T’s longevity and since he’s the only Pokemon on my team that can reliably outspeed aforementioned threats, the bulk comes a long way. 212 Speed EVs lets him outspeed all of the Pokemon I need to, so not much I can say there. Finally, an Adamant nature with 156 Attack EVs guarantees I OHKO Latios with Knock Off, and hurt just about everything that is at least neutral to Earthquake or weak to Stone Edge hard. I mentioned Knock Off earlier, but it really is amazing. Even if not for taking out Latios, removing an item on any Pokemon that isn’t a Mega is good on just about every team, and since I lacked a Knock Off user, I gave it to Landorus-T. Finally, U-Turn lets this team not only gain momentum via switch initiative like Rotom-W does, but makes him a really good lead as well due to being able to safely leave against just about every lead thanks to the speed he possesses, and obviously makes him my lead if I can’t really decide on what my opponent is going to lead off with.
Ferrothorn (M)
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 204 HP / 96 Def / 208 SpD [IVs: 0 Spe]
Nature: Sassy
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
Originally just there to provide a secondary check to Rain teams, offensive Fairies, and Latios, as well as setting up Stealth Rock, Ferrothorn managed to become my final member for my team. After playing this team for an extensive amount, this Pokemon proved to be ridiculously good. As, with the EV spread, Ferrothorn just beats so many other Pokemon. This includes just about every bulky water, Mega Gyarados, Excadrill (thanks to the 96 Defense EVs), Cresselia, and Chansey. Not only this, but Leech Seed is way more useful than I had expected it to be, especially against Stall, as a wall such as Chansey or Skarmory could be used to heal back residual damage either Infernape or Mega Gardevoir have received from switching-in so much, and providing more residual damage when combined with Stealth Rock. Combine this with Protect, and you can even reliably check Mega Alakazam, Landorus-T, and potentially win against Scarf Magnezone, and can lead to the most hilarious KOs and the most forfeits.
(252+ SpA Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 204 HP / 208 SpD Ferrothorn: 216-256 (63.5 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Even worst case scenario you need a double Protect once to win it’s so beautiful.
Even worst case scenario you need a double Protect once to win it’s so beautiful.
CONCLUSION:
This team has been very successful, mostly thanks to how this team has a lot of options vs all of the playstyles commonly seen on the XY OU ladder. I laddered with this team a lot and peaked at #2, with a 1944 elo and have managed to beat many good battlers with sheer skill rather than just getting lucky a lot. I know ORAS is released in around a week, but I really felt like sharing this team to you readers before XY ends. Regardless, if you think I should edit a certain aspect of the team, please don't hesitate to do so! Thanks for reading, and make sure you have a nice day! n.n
Proof:
SHOUT-OUTS:
Flamer for helping me out with the team and for motivation. c:
victini493RMT for giving me nice advice while making this RMT and being one of the few people who can claim they watch my videos.
Reymedy because he's proud of the fact that I'm a tutee of his that went somewhere I guess. Oh and he tolerated my Infernape ramblings back in July? I beat him in Smash too btw.
victini493RMT for giving me nice advice while making this RMT and being one of the few people who can claim they watch my videos.
Reymedy because he's proud of the fact that I'm a tutee of his that went somewhere I guess. Oh and he tolerated my Infernape ramblings back in July? I beat him in Smash too btw.
IMPORT:
Olympus (Infernape) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 168 Atk / 132 SpA / 208 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Mach Punch
Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 204 HP / 96 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 168 Atk / 132 SpA / 208 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Mach Punch
Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 204 HP / 96 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
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