ORAS OU TheRationalDove's RMT Thread: VoltTurn Core w/ Mega Venusaur

[TheRationalDove]

Hey, everyone! I am sort of reviving this thread, as I have some new team ideas, plus some updates for my old team here. If this isn't accpetable, I can make a new thread, but I also know that the RMT section likes as little threads as possible, so I figured having one place for all of my teams would be better than multiple places.

For now, here is my Mega V, Volt Turn team with some improvements and some new weaknesses.

THE TEAM

Hibiscus (Mega Venusaur) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Thick Fat (Chlorophyll when not Mega)
EV: 248 HP/ 96 Def/ 144 SpD/ 20 Spe
Bold Nature
-Leech Seed
-Sludge Bomb
-Giga Drain
-Synthesis
Description: Mega Venusaur is fast becoming one of my favorite Pokemon in OU and serves as my bulk/tank. It excellent 80/123/120 bulk and ability Thick Fat let Mega Venusaur sponge a lot of hits that would ordinarily OHKO it. For this team, I opted for a more defensive set. Sludge Bomb is a good STAB move that check Fairy-types. Leech Seed is a pesky move that only Grass-types can counter on switch-ins. Couple that with STAB Giga Drain and Synthesis and you have a Pokemon that is not easily taken down. EVs and Bold Nature are applied to make Mega-V as bulky as possible.

Cumulus (Raikou) @ Choice Spec
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk/ 30 Def
Timid Nature
-Volt Tackle
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Ice
-Shadow Ball
Description: Raikou is one half of my VoltTurn core, operating as a fast special sweeper. Volt Tackle is the key move here, as it allows Raikou to pivot and give momentum to my team. Thunderbolt provides a solid STAB attack and with the Choice Spec boost, it makes this move even more deadly, absolutely slaughtering Water- and Flying- type Pokemon. Hidden Power Ice and Shadow Ball provide coverage against common Rock-, Ground- and Psychic- types. EVs are spread to make Raikou as fast and strong as possible, allowing for it to even serve as a revenge killer in some instances.

Frieda (Talonflame)
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP/ 8 Def/ 252 SpD
Careful Nature
-Acrobatics
-Roost
-Will-O-Wisp
-Taunt
Description: Talonflame is my stallbreaker and anti-sweeper. Priority STAB Acrobatics plus no held item hits hard across the metagame. Priority Roost is used to give Talonflame sorely needed recovery. Will-O-Wisp and Taunt both cripple foes that rely on status moves or strong attack stats. Gale Wings makes Talonflame extremely speedy. EVs were put more into bulk, as this set is less concerned with high attack.

Serrate (Bisharp) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk/ 52 SpD/ 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Knock Off
-Iron Head
-Sucker Punch
-Pursuit
Description: Bisharp acts as my primary speedy physical sweeper with a pursuit trapping-focused set in order to help out Mega-V against those troublesome Psychic types. STAB Knock Off helps to neuter threats such as Chansey and others who need their items. Iron Head is another good STAB move that deals at least neutral damage to most of the metagame. Sucker Punch is the perfect tool for revenge killing threats such as Mega Alakazam and Latios. Pursuit rounds out the set, catching strong Psychic types and dispatching them with ease. Black Glasses, on top of, STAB for all Dark-type moves make Bisharp hit like a truck. EV and Nature help in that aspect as well.

Ocho (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Rapid Spin
-Recover
-Reflect Type
-Scald
Description: Starmie is the main support Pokemon of the team, chosen for its efficiency as a Rapid Spinner and status absorber thanks to Natural Cure. Rapid Spin is necessary, as it clears entry hazards that Talonflame and Raikou appreciate gone. Reflect Type gives needed defensive against coverage moves or unfavorable matchups, which is important if Stealth Rocks is on the field. STAB Scald helps against Fire-types and has a 30% chance to burn, crippling the likes of Bisharp and Mega Pinsir. Recover and Leftovers provide good recovery to keep Starmie healthy. Because of the importance of Rapid Spin, Speed investments were more important than bulk.

Terry (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/ 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
-Stealth Rocks
-Earthquake
-Stone Egde
-U-Turn
Description: Landorus-Therian is my lead, hazard setter, physical wall and the other half of my VoltTurn core. Intimidate also helps against strong attackers. Stealth Rocks wears down the opponents, which helps to take them down. EdgeQuake hits almost all of the metagame for at least neutral damage. U-Turn provides momentum for my team and and easy out if Landorus has an unfavorable matchup. Leftovers provides much needed recovery.

Weaknesses I Have Noticed:
-Steel Types with a Ground Resistance: Pokes like Ferrothorn and Scizor suck a lot for me, as I have no Fire-type Moves at my disposal. I also have a huge problem whenever Lando bites the dust when it comes to Steel-types.

More to come as I find them.

And that's all for now. Thanks for reading!
-TheRationalDove

 

[Albacore]

This was kind of a tricky team to rate, not because it's bad or anything, but because your weaknessss happen to be a bit hard to cover with only one or two Pokemon. You mentioned Fire-types and you mentioned Mega Gardevoir, but you didn't mention Sand Rush Excadrill which completely curbstomps you, or Dark-types like Weavile, Bisharp, Hoopa-U and to a lesser extent Tyranitar, having Bisharp as your only Dark resist seems like a bad idea to me.

There are a bunch of different ways you can fix these weaknesses though, none of them are perfect, but they're all valid choice I recommend you try out.

First of all, run Reflect Type on Starmie. This enables you to handle YZard and Bisharp a lot better, the only gcost being losing the ability to beat Sub CM keldeo, which Torn-t and Venusaur already handle pretty well, and which, therefore, isn't needed on this team.

The first thing I thought of to cover your weaknesses is Talonflame over Tornadus-T, since Talonflame covers most of yoru weaknesses pretty well, and also checks most of what Torn-T checks (bar Keldeo which is also covered by other members of your team). There are a bunch of sets that could work here, but I would recommend Will-O-Wisp with no item to come in on Knock Off users which, as I said, you have trouble against. You also probably want Taunt since that gives you a stallbreaker, something you sorely lack on your team, meaning that otherwise, you probably struggle a lot against more defensive teams. As for the spread, both a physically defensive spread (to take Gardevoir's Psyshocks and Weavile's Icicle Crashes) and a specially defensive spread (for YZard and Tornadus-T) are valid.

This still leaves you weak to Sand though, but that can be remedied quite easily by running Landorus-T over Rhyperior, which actually checks Excadrill quite well and provides extra U-Turn support to make up for the loss of Tornadus-T. Generally speaking, Rhyperior is almost always going to be a worse choice than Landorus-T, Hippowdon or Garchomp, due to the added weaknesses preventing if from dealing with Bisharp, Excadrill, Lopunny etc...

There are other options I've considered for your team, like running Hippowdon over Rhyperior, Air Balloon Heatran over Rhyperior, Scarf Heatran over Bisharp, Klefki over Bisharp, Scarf Jirachi over Bisharp and Keldeo over Starmie, but those all require you change more of your team to make up for the weaknesses they don't cover or open up, so they're not as efficient.

sets

Ocho (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Reflect Type
- Scald

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock

Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

 

[TheRationalDove]

Hey there, Albacore! I took your advice. I think Landorus-T was a good deal for me, as he not only works as a hazards setter, but also sponges hits a lot more than I thought he would. He also has good enough stats to warrant a wallbreaker, too. I have had success in Talonflame as well, but more as a mindgamer. She's great at being a stallbreak and since a lot of people think of Talonflame as a setupsweeper, it can throw a lot of checks off gaurd when she sponges a hit or Taunts them. I have run into some new problems however, after fiddling around with this set. For one, I have no real good way of getting rid of bulky Steel types like Ferrothorn and Scizor without a Fire-type move. Lando des pretty well against Ferrothorn, but if he bites the dust, I get left high and dry. Granted, I typically don't use Lando a lot against Ferrothorn, so maybe I should try it out more often....Any suggestions?

 

[Lusch]

Hi TheRationalDove.
I am not an expert but without changing the pokemon of the team, but to handle Ferrothorn (and for that matter scizor) better I can recommend changing Venusaur to a more offensive variant with HP fire over Leech Seed. Mega Venu tanks hits even then and does more damage while also being able to hit Ferro. The given EVs allow it to outpace Admant Azu and Adamant Crawdaunt as well as Defensive Suicune and Rotom-W (if it runs 8 Speed like it does in the smogon spread)

Spread

Venusaur (M) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 232 HP / 212 SpA / 64 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]