VGC The Swarm is Unstoppable, sometimes

Abyss_Megalo

Abyss_Megalo

Hello everyone, I'm Abyss_Megalo, nice to meet you all. I've been on and off on PS! for the past couple of years, and just created this account recently. This is one team that I've been really comfortable playing, next to a Mega Lucario/Thundurus-T team. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Poison Jab
- Protect
- Drill Run

I chose Beedrill because of the power and speed it has, especially the power, as it has nuclear powered Poison Jabs and X-Scissors from the Adaptability boost. Protect is there so that Beedrills original stats don't get him smashed on the first turn. Drill Run is just for coverage, but I'm debating about changing it to U-Turn for switch initiative.

Cloyster @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash
- Razor Shell

Cloyster is a back-up beatstick in case I'm up against Zard-Y+Venasaur or Beedrill gets Hyper Voiced to death. He's also a really effective Mega-Mence+Lando-T killer. Shell Smash gets the huge power boosts that let Cloyster be a monster on the field, and Focus Sash makes sure that it survives to put it to good use. Icicle Spear is Cloysters most powerful move, and Rock Blast and Razor Shell are more for coverage than anything, as Rock Blast wrecks Zard-Y.

Arcanine @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Atk / 32 SpA
Lonely Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Morning Sun

Arcanine is just a bulky support Pokemon that pretty much just walls unprepared Sun teams. It's a pretty standard set, other than ExtremeSpeed over WoW, which I'm probably going to change soon, as the only reason I had ExtremeSpeed is for quick damage in case I was able to get something down low enough. Overheat and Close Combat are just standard moves for Arcanine, and Morning Sun is for recovery and is what let's this guy beat sun.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast

This is my Mega-Mence killer. That's pretty much it's only important job, other than it being a good late game sweeper. Outrage is just for pure power and so I don't have to try to split up the EV's between Attack and SpAttack, while the rest are for coverage. EdgeQuake is OP.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
- Scald

Greninja is to get rid of those pesky Talonflames and another cover to Zard-Y+Venasaur. Gunk Shot is for Sylveons and Gardevoirs, Scald is used over Hydro Pump because of accuracy and the chance for a burn. Dark Pulse is to hit Gengar, Metagross, and Lati@s. Ice Beam is because there are a giant plethora of mons with ice weakness.

Pachirisu @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Follow Me
- Discharge
- Protect
- Volt Switch

I needed some type of redirection that could take some fire type hits, which meant Amoonguss was out of the picture. I considered just having Fake Out support with Meowstic or Whimsicott, but I remembered Worlds and of course Pachirisu, so I made one that I think fits my team. Follow Me is the best move on this set, and it let's Beedrill and Cloyster wreck havoc everywhere. Protect is to make taunters all but waste their turn, Volt switch is so that I can get Pachi out of really bad situations, and Discharge is reserved for extreme circumstances.

My EV spreads definitely need work, but I'm not very good at solidifying those myself. Thanks for the help in advance!
 
Hey dude welcome to Smogon, i'm gonna go through each pokemon individually and give you my opinions on them :)
Beedrill: While it's a pretty cool pokemon in Singles, it isn't too great in a Doubles format like VGC. It's frailness makes it extremely susceptible to Fake Out/Sucker Punch/Prio in general. Not to mention popular pokemon like Landorus and Heatran who resist both of its STAB and being super weak to intimidate spam as well. I suggest replacing it with Gyarados since it works the best with pachi or if you want to replace pachi with another follow me mon, mence + kiss/clef works too.
Cloyster: Shell smash cloyster honestly isn't too great. Since Rotom Wash (another really popular pokemon) resist both of its STABs, it's really not worth it to run Cloyster. Also set up moves like shell smash generally aren't the best considering the meta is very fast and priority can really cripple Cloyster. If anything i suggest changing it out with Mamoswine or Milotic to give you a better edge against Intimidate spam
Arcanine: Defensive rk9 is really good with 252 hp / 144 defense / 36 satk / 76 speed with a bold nature (courtesy of lucariojr) and the moves Morning Sun/Protect, Will-o-Wisp, Flamethrower, Snarl. As for the item, VGC has items clause so you can't use Leftovers twice, i would use Rocky Helmet personally on rk9 since your pachi should hold sitrus berry and it can cripple phyical attackers more lol
Salamence: Scarf mence was better back in XY sadly since pokemon like Scarf Hydreigon are proving to be the better scarfed dragon. If you want to keep mence however, you're better off with the special set with the moves Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Dragon Pulse/Stone Edge, Hydro Pump/Earthquake. Outrage isn't that great considering it doesn't let you choose your target plus physical mence is susceptible to intimidate and after an intimidate, mega mence survives and outrage.
Greninja: Greninja is alright in VGC however it's very niche. TBH it's not the best check to sun teams or Talonflame considering banded/LO t flame takes a chunk out of Gren ( i think it even OHKOs but too lazy to calc lol) and drought will weaken the power of Ninja's water moves so it's not too great against char y + venu. Greninja's main role in VGC is pretty much to patch up weaknesses in your team due to it's great speed and protean plus its insane movepool. If you do want a check to talon/sun teams, i suggest adding in Rotom Heat (even tho they perform different roles) since rotom resists the common moves that Charizard runs and threatens it out with T bolt and threatens venu with Overheat tho running two defensive fire types might not be the best. If you do want to keep Ninja which honestly it isn't too bad on your team, i suggest using Dark Pulse, Protect, Gunk Shot/Rock Slide, Hydro Pump/Ice Beam. Dark Pulse since it hits metagross and gengar, Gunk Shot is nice for fairies and rock slide is nice for char y. The last moveset honestly is up to you, Hydro over scald cause scald is SUPER weak and fishing for burns with a frail mon like Gren isn't the best idea lol. Ice Beam can hit mons like Mega Mence before d dance and non scarf Landos tho hydro hits that as well.
Pachirisu: Pachi is a really niche follow me mon considering it isn't something that you can just randomly slap on a team. If you want to keep it, i suggest changing the moveset to Follow Me, Protect, Nuzzle (cause paralysis and breaks sashes), and Super Fang. I know that it's the exact same moveset that sejun ran but hey, it's pretty much the best moveset for pachi lol. Also its item should be a sitrus berry

Hope i helped dude and good luck with the team :)
 
I'll keep those all in mind. Thanks for the advice. And I completely forgot about changing the leftovers before. I do want to keep Beedrill, Pachi, and Greninja most, so I'll probably do my best to patch up the holes in that. I'll probably change out to Milotic for Cloyster, and I'll probably just scrap the Mence all together. I'll work on Arcanine, too. Thanks again, and I'll get back to here asap with the team.
 
Alright that's fine, sorry for pretty much changing up your entire core tho XD but yeah it looks fine tbh, just watch out for prio also no prob dude :]
 
Okay so I just did a complete overhaul on this team and it's almost completely different.

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Solar Beam
- Protect
- Overheat
- Earthquake

I swapped Beedrill out for Zard-Y because Beedrill was there simply for pure power and this covered the power section along with hitting various popular pokemon and just any mons in general extremely hard. It's a pretty standard set, so I don't think I need to go too in-depth. I've never found a time when I'm not bringing zard to a match.

Swampert @ Expert Belt
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 SpA
Relaxed Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Protect

Swampert takes Cloysters role as a dragon killer. He also provides a bulky water type to help against Suicune which I've recently encountered on at least fifteen teams. I'm debating swapping EQ for Earth Power, but the spread damage can be sooooo good. The EV's allow Swampert to take a Mega-Mence Hyper Voice or Draco Meteor and OHKO with Ice Beam. Scald over Waterfall because it's Special Swampert, and Protect is for keeping those pesky Fake Out users from making Mence able to KO Swampert.

Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Protect
- Sludge Bomb
- Solar Beam
- Sleep Powder

This used to be Meowstic, who took the place of Pachirisu as disruption, which while it worked wonders against a lot of popular Mega's, it left a gaping hole to Rain and water types in general, which especially proved problematic with Suicune. This was the best option I thought of vs. Suicune as it can put it to sleep to stop Tailwind and Icy Wind from wrecking me and Solar Beam is an OHKO, not to mention Venusaur naturally works with Zard-Y because of Chlorophyll

Infernape @ Assault Vest
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
- Fake Out
- Rock Slide
- Overheat
- Mach Punch

This was probably one of the best changes I made for this team. I changed from Arcanine to Infernape just on a whim, but it's worked wonders. It plays a really good supportive type of roll with Fake Out and even Rock Slide providing some key flinches and it picks off weakened threats with Mach Punch. Overheat is a last resort move that can take out some threats and hit others for big chunks of damage. It's something I almost always use as a lead. Assault Vest gives Infernape enough bulk to take a few hits and dish out some good damage.

Greninja (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

Greninja is Greninja. It provides a powerful attacker that also draws fire from my other mons, and it plays a major role in clean up after i've whittled down my opponents with Hydreigon and Charizard. Hydro Pump is just a fast powerful water attack that I was lacking, while Dark Pulse and Ice Beam are very good for coverage. Protect is for against Mega-Khan's Fake Outs.

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Pulse

This is another Pokemon that I bring to pretty much every match. Draco Meteor takes out threats guaranteed, like Mega Mence and Chomp, while Dragon Pulse can take out slightly weaker dragons like Sceptile, which I've seen a lot of. I have Dark Pulse as a secondary STAB move along with coverage for nasty trick room setters. Fire Blast used to be Flamethrower until I missed a KO on a Venusaur that cost me the game. He's scarfed so that he outspeeds and smashes every commonly seen dragon type out there.

My main leads are Infernape+Hydreigon and Infernape+Greninja. I especially like the Infernape+Hydreigon lead because Hydreigon takes out problematic things Infernape has problems with such as Mega-Mence and Garchomp, while Infernape gives Hydreigon enough time to get rid of MegaKhan and other slightly bulkier Pokemon. It's the same with the Greninja+Infernape lead, just if there's something like Lando-T or bulkier fire types I'll start Greninja. Charizard is for the late-game sweep-up and either Greninja pr Hydreigon is the one that assists it.
 
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