VGC Team

RaikouAura

Final changes in Bold

Smeargle @ Choice Scarf

252 HP, 252 Speed, 4 Def / Jolly or Timid

- Dark Void
- Trick
- Protect
- Destiny Bond

Everything revolves around this Pokemon. I hope Dark Void's accuracy isn't too bad though... I might get haxed if Dark Void misses both

Weavile @ Focus Sash

252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP / Jolly

- Ice Shard
- Low Kick
- Swords Dance
- Fake out

This one has a fast Fake Out, however after it fakes out Kyogre Hitmontop fakes out Smeargle, so its not a counter to Topgore. It's not paired up with Smeargle when there's a Double-Hitter coupled with a Fake-Outer. This Weavile is risky due to the fact that opponents can wake up anytime.

Togekiss @ Leftovers (Hustle)

252 HP, 176 Def, 80 SpD / Careful

- Follow Me
- Protect
- Roost
- Extremespeed

Since I didn't invest any EVs to speed I doubt the flinch from Air Slash would be useful at all. However, the 75 Base Attack after Hustle is not that bad. Coupled with a STAB Extremespeed, I think it can use priority to finish off weakened foes quite well.

Toxicroak @ Black Sludge

252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def / Adamant

- Protect
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick
- Fake Out

This set aims to act as a Fake Out-er as well as to counter Rain Dance teams. The 252 HP is there to let it survive neutral hits well. Ground and Psychic moves are rather rare in VGCs due to Earthquake limiting the number of Pokemon you can use and Psychic is redundant.

Palkia @ Haban Berry

252 SpA, 252 Speed, 4 HP / Modest

- Spacial Rend
- Surf
- Thunder
- Blizzard

This one keeps Toxicroak's HP quite high with Surf while hitting Rain Dance/Blizzard teams hard. However, I haven't found a way to deal with Sunny Day teams, who weaken my Surf and hurt Toxicroak.

Abomasnow @ Sitrus Berry

252 HP, 252 SpA, 4 Def / Quiet

- Blizzard
- Grass Knot
- Ice Shard
- Protect

My Hail-bringer to counter Sunny Day teams. I don't really know how to use this but it acts as a replacement for Toxicroak in case there's a Groudon.

Smeargle @ Choice Scarf

252 HP, 252 Speed, 4 Def / Jolly or Timid (Own Tempo)

- Dark Void
- Detect
- Trick
- Destiny Bond

This set aims to put both pokemon to sleep almost immediately. It can almost outspeed every pokemon in the ubers tier. After putting both Pokemon to sleep it can switch out and switch back in to Trick the scarf into walls.

Togekiss @ Wacan/Yache berry

252 HP, 252 Spe, 4 Def / Timid (Serene Grace)

- Follow Me
- Protect
- Roost
- Air Slash

This aims to help Smeargle Dark Void easily, protecting it from priority attacks and some faster pokemon. Protect and Roost aid its tanking abilities, while Air Slash can flinch pokemon, dealing damage to pokemon while they're asleep, and has a 60% chance of preventing their attack even after they wake up.

(Substitute) Weavile @ Focus Sash

252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP / Jolly

- Fake out
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard

Since the VGC in my region allows for 6 pokemon to register, but only for 4 of them to compete at once, I'll use this as a substitute for Togekiss whenever I see a Kyogre (probably scarfed). Togekiss cannot stop Water Spouts, but Weavile can. Weavile is one of the fastest priority users in the VGC, and is only tied by other Weaviles. After 1 Swords Dance Weavile can easily sweep many pokemon.

Metagross @ Salac Berry

252 Atk, 252 Speed / Adamant

- Bullet punch
- Thunder punch
- Ice punch
- Explosion

Metagross is able to take 1-2 hits from most pokemon before Salac berry activates. Also, Metagross will switch in after Smeargle Dark Voids to aid Togekiss in finishing off asleep pokemon. Thunder punch is for Kyogre while Ice punch deals neutral-super effective damage against Ground and all dragons. Bullet punch is for priority. Explosion when Metagross' HP is low.

Giratina @ Leftovers

252 SpA, 84 Def, 176 SpD / Calm

- Dragon Pulse
- Shadow Force/Icy wind
- Thunder
- Earth Power

Giratina is an amazing wall but it can hit hard as well. I didn't invest any speed as I think it needed the extra bulk. The above moves are for STAB and to wipe off threats. My team's main weakness is Metagross and Bronzong, which resist most of my attacks. Earth Power kills Metagross while Shadow Force threatens Bronzong. However, I was wondering if Icy Wind could do better against the common dragons. Giratina is to pair up with Metagross when Metagross explodes.

(substitute) Infernape @ Life Orb

252 SpA, 252 Speed, 4 HP / Timid

- Flamethrower
- Nasty plot
- Fake out
- Grass knot/HP Ice

This can replace either Togekiss or Metagross. The disadvantage of this is because it doesn't have Explosion (I actually wanted Gengar, Lati@s or maybe Heatran) However, unlike the 3 stated, it has Fake Out and Nasty Plot which makes it a good special sweeper. My original team (Smeargle, Weavile, Metagross, Shedinja) did not have any special sweepers at all. (I thought Shedinja could Will-o-Wisp and then Protect + Endure but I found out it doesn't work sadly.)

This Infernape is mainly to threaten Steel or defensive pokemon like Bronzong which walls my other pokemon. Flamethrower is more reliable as missing could cost me the whole game (Sash is already on Weavile sadly.)

As for the moveset I think Grass Knot would do much better since I have Metagross and Weavile already. After 1 Nasty Plot it can sweep well and it is quite faster at 104 speed (though Weavile is 125).
 
Changed Metagross and Giratina to Toxicroak and Palkia to counter Topogre.

Toxicroak @ Black Sludge

252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP / Jolly

- Sucker punch
- Fake out
- Low kick
- Thunder Punch/Ice Punch

Palkia @ Haban Berry

252 SpA, 252 Speed, 4 HP

- Surf
- Thunder
- Spacial Rend
- Blizzard/Protect
 
Just a small comment. That team looks fine, but why wouldn't you use two ubers if they're available? Some dude did it at Pheonix I believe, but man it seems excessively hard and presses your luck.

Or am I misunderstanding something?
 
So far it's been 2 ubers on 99.9 percent of all successful VGC teams. Does that mean they're 100% necessary? No, but... they're on 99.9% of VGC teams for a reason :/
 
All right thanks, I don't use 2 Ubers because none of them have what I really want. I only use Palkia as a counter for Kyogre. Also the last VGC in my region only allowed 1 restricted pokemon, and I was using the Topogre set (Kyogre, Hitmontop, Abomasnow and Palkia), so I had to replace Palkia with Latios. I don't want to rely too much on Ubers.
 
If your planning on using metagross, give it EQ over ice punch. Dialga is more common than Rayquaza, and instead of salac you should probably go with occa or shuca,
 
I'm not using Metagross any more though. It seems that besides Smeargle/Weavile, I can opt for a more defensive strategy to fit in Togekiss at the same time. Infernape is there to counter steels while Toxicroak/Palkia to counter Topogre.

The only threat, apparently is Mewtwo/Abomasnow, where 1 Blizzard will hit Smeargle/Infernape though that person may try to protect while I Fake Out Mewtwo.

Attacks that hit multiple opponents are a threat because Follow Me won't work - Waterspout, Blizzard, Discharge, Heat Wave, Explosion. Instead of using Togekiss (which is weak to 3 of the stated moves and neutral to the rest) what do you think I should use? Lucario may not be bulky enough but it has Inner Focus and resists Blizzard. (I think it can take at least one hit.)
 
I think you will get better use out of smeargle if you give him a focus sash. Follow me will not block smeargle from getting beat by water spout or blizzard. A sashed smearlge with max speed is not too slow and it can then endeavor or dark void still.
 
Fake out will stop the opponent from attacking though. Since my team can already counter Topogre and Dual Blizzards, the only current threat are Earthquakes and Explosions. Though there are no way to counter those types since there are many of them, I'll list them all.

Garchomp + Giratina-O
Metagross + Giratina-O
Garchomp + Lati@s
Bronzong + Giratina

Well these are the most common ones, since Salamence and the rest are hardly seen. Garchomp is a great user of Earthquake due to its high Attack and Speed + STAB. Lati@s are good counters to most Ubers, while Giratina-O can avoid Earthquake and block Explosion at the same time.

Smeargle's speed can go up to 409 with Scarf, while Garchomp's max speed w/o scarf is 333. Lati@s' speed can only go up to 350. A sashed Smeargle will only reach a speed of 273. Having a scarfed Smeargle instead of a sashed one has great benefits. It outspeeds even Timid maxed speed Mewtwo.

Those that it cannot outspeed are only those with Choice Scarf like Kyogre or pokemon like Ninjask which you cannot find in VGCs.

All the above threats are obviously too slow, unless they try priority attacks such as Bullet Punch from Metagross or Protect from Giratina-O. Other than those, Smeargle will always go first.

What I'm worried of is Kyogre predicting a switch and start using Blizzard. (switching in Abomasnow) My solution is using Lucario (which cannot be faked out by Hitmontop) and form this belief that it cannot OHKO Lucario with Blizzard and therefore should use Water Spout on the safe side.

EDIT:

Lucario @ Focus Sash
- Extremespeed
- Follow Me
- Protect
- Blaze Kick/Close Combat
 
Using Lucario, is a big risk but his follow me, fake out stopping power, and priority could pay off big. Give it close combat for sure, because it does huge amounts of damage to dialga, abomasnow, and everything it hits neutrally. Close combat
was probably my favorite VGC move.
 
Updated my team, decided to have:

- Smeargle #1
- Weavile #2
- Togekiss #2
- Toxicroak #3
- Palkia #4
- Abomasnow #3

See first post
 
Smeargle and Weaville leads are too weak to survive in this years metagame. It may have been a viable option last year, but with the introduction of ubers, the use of them has almost ceased to exist. I experimented with them on PO and found that it simply was not as strong as the team may have been last year. On top of that, all it takes is an uber with a lum or chesto to screw your team over. Groudon would rip your team apart with rock slide. Your only real defense against it is palkia or aboma, but you have aboma as one of your subs. I also firmly believe that you should figure out what four you really want to use before you make a team of six. The only time that the other two matter is in the top 16 of nats/worlds when battles are best of 3.
 
They worked this year, but not really the way you put them together. For LCQ? I mean it works against topogre but even if you sleep stuff you don't have anything you can really do with it.
 
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