ORAS OU VoltTurn Mega Diancie

[Chiki]

Hi everyone. Diancie is one of my favorite Pokemon along with Celebi, so I naturally wanted to build a team based on those two cuties. I'm looking for a team with which I can ladder relatively reliably and play consistently, so I'd really appreciate any help you guys are willing to give to improve this team! Credits to SnowCristal for making a great team based on the same idea, which helped me think.

Team-Building Process

We started off with this cutie and major threat. Diancie is even more threatening with a NP pass from Celebi, though:

I still had no way of dealing with Bisharp, who is basically the biggest threat to this duo. Keldeo was an obvious choice since he's an amazing sweeper with help from Celebi and basically the best pffensive Bisharp check there is:

Now is when it starts to get interesting, and I no longer have obvious choices to choose from. I needed something that could take attacks from Pokemon like Gengar, Gardevoir, Thundurus etc. more reliably while also appreciating a Nasty Plot boost from Celebi. AV Raikou seemed like the most natural choice, since he has great speed and he can kick a lot of ass with a NP boost from Celebi. It's also good for me if I have more options to pass NP to.

Now, just about every team needs a steel type to deal with fairies and such. I also needed something to also take more attacks from Pokemon like Gengar and Gardevoir. I saw on SnowCristal's thread that he had a team based on Celebi+Keldeo+Diancie as well, and he used Defog SDef Scizor for this task.

This team already had 3 VoltTurn users (including BP Celebi), and I needed a physical wall U-turn SR user. The obvious choice was Landorus-T.

The Team

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Standard Landorus-T, and 1/4th of the VoltTurners. I need him to help me take care of opposing Landorus-T, Excadrill, Mega Charizard-X, and so on. Basically, he's the physical wall of my team. I considered putting Hippowdon in this spot instead, but Landorus-T is really helpful in wearing down Pokemon like Rotom-W with U-turn. Hippowdon's Slack Off would be really appreciated though, because I noticed that this team has a lot of trouble with Mega Manectric, which can slowly weaken my team if used well.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 224 HP / 20 Atk / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- Roost

I borrowed the idea of this set from SnowCristal, but I replaced Knock Off with U-turn so that he could contribute to the VoltTurning, and I don't regret it. I use him to help me deal with threats like Gengar and Gardevoir, Defog the opponent's SR, and wear down the opponent's team with U-turn. I do wish he was a little bulkier though, because he does too many jobs at once. Defog is most important to make it easier for Landorus-T and Raikou to keep their VoltTurn chains going, because SR will eventually kill them both.

Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Extrasensory
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch

AV Raikou is so awesome! He barely takes any damage from special attacks thanks to the Assault Vest, which helps me deal with Gengar, Tornadus-T and Thundurus. He also has great coverage and speed, which makes him an excellent candidate to pass Nasty Plot to when it's not safe to do so for Keldeo and Diancie. His Assault Vest and natural bulk make him really hard for the opponent to take down once he has +2 SpA. The only problem is that I wish he had some way of healing, because SR can wear him down a lot if I don't get the chance to use Defog.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 136 Def / 96 SpD / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Baton Pass
- Recover

Celebi is obviously the heart of this team, since she supports 3 of my special sweepers with Nasty Plot boosts. Diancie in particular becomes almost impossible to stop (unless the opponent has a Scizor) once she has +2 SpA and speed. But Raikou and Keldeo appreciate the boost as well. Celebi has a few main threats which opponents who face this team like to switch in: Heatran, Talonflame, Gengar, Bisharp and so on. Between Raikou, Keldeo and Diancie, I have an answer to all of these threats, and sometimes, I can even risk taking a hit these Pokemon just to pass NP and sweep. But Celebi isn't good just for passing NP and keeping the VoltTurn chain going; I also need him to help me take out Pokemon like Azumarill, Rotom-W and Mega Lopunny, who otherwise would embarrass this team.

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Substitute

Keldeo may be the MVP of this team. He's very easy to bring in thanks to the team using VoltTurn moves constantly, and he's almost always threatening. Sometimes, I can predict that the opponent will switch, so I use Substitute. Sometimes, I gradually weaken an opposing Latios/Latias with Scald so I can burn them and open the way for a sweep. Sometimes, I can just outright sweep the opponent's team after a NP boost. He's a really fantastic Pokemon and more evidence can be seen in the battle I'll post at the end of this thread.

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Polish
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Diancie is so cute, but looks can be deceiving. After a Rock Polish and a NP, she can take on and defeat just about the entire metagame, apart from Scizor, Azumarill and the like. Sometimes when I feel like I need Diancie to be more durable, I'll use Rock Polish without evolving her so that I can take a hit better. And when I can kill something with Diamond Storm, I have around a 50% chance (slightly less due to 95 accuracy) of getting +1 Def to be able to take physical attacks better. To give you an idea of how useful this is, Diancie can take an Earthquake from physically defensive Landorus-T after getting +1 Def (the chance to survive an Earthquake from Scarf Landorus-T is not so great). This has come in handy in the past, when I needed Mega Diancie to survive Fake Outs from Mega Lopunny so that she could sweep. I kept using Diamond Storm and got the +1 Defs needed to sweep the opponent's team. She can also kill Pokemon like Scizor and Ferrothorn on the switch sometimes in one hit. Awesome sweeper.

Threats

Really annoying for this team to face, especially if it has HP Fire. It can wear down Raikou (who has Extrasensory solely to take on Mega Venusaur) with Sludge Bombs, which may poison him, and I'll have no counter left for it. In that case, I'll have to pray that Celebi can get a NP on him and Pass to Raikou or something.

Depending on its set, if it gets a DD I can't do anything to it. If it has both Crunch and Earthquake, it sweeps my team. I can try to play around it with Landorus-T, Celebi and Raikou. Keldeo can take a hit and hurt it with Secret Sword.

Can slowly wear down my team with constant HP Ices, Overheats, Volt Absorbs etc. Raikou can't take it on forever. Having SR on the field would be great though.

Walks all over my team after getting +2 SpA if it's not weakened. Fortunately though, most of my team can weaken it enough so that I can kill it with Scizor: Landorus-T can U-turn, Scizor can take an unboosted HP Fire and U-turn it, Raikou can HP Ice it, Celebi can set up NP and Pass to Raikou who can take a hit and kill it.

Concluding Remarks

This is a really fun team to play with, and it definitely can succeed in the ladder. It does have some significant issues which I can solve with the help of you guys. I'd really appreciate your help!

Example Battles (to be updated)

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-238171203

 

[Alkov]

Hey there really cool volt-turn team you have there with a RP Mega Diancie to round it up however I have a few suggestions to help make the team better n_n

• Firstly, mentioned in your threat list, your team gets run over by a
  
  and
  
  so what I'll like to suggest is to have
  
  over
  
  since your team isn't generally weak to hazards like Stealth Rock, by making that change, you are able to check both of them with relative ease. It also has access to U-turn so as to provide momentum which your team needs.
  
  Set of Tornadus-T

  Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
  Ability: Regenerator
  EVs: 136 HP / 152 SpA / 220 Spe
  Timid Nature
  - Hurricane
  - U-turn
  -
  -
  The last 2 slots will be fillers, it can be Knock Off, Heatwave or even Icy Wind since it's generally fillers.
  
  
• Secondly, by changing
  
  out to
  
  , your team might become a little too weak to fairies especially against things like Clefable, Gardevoir and Altaria. Even though you used to have
  
  , without Swords Dance and barely any attack investment, it is not enough to scare the first two out so instead I would like to suggest changing out
  
  to
  
  . Although you lose out on the ability to baton pass out Nasty Plots which might help facilitate a sweep with
  
  however
  
  helps to cover up on a lot more things that threatens your team. With ability to Wish and pass onto your team mate or cripple the opponent through Body Slam paralysis and flinching opponents with Iron Head, it is also able to help preserve momentum with access to U-turn.
  
  
• Lastly, you might want to have at least 8speed EVs on your
  
  so that it reaches 220speed so as to outspeed the standard 44speed EVs
  
  and U-turn out.
  
  Hope it helps n_n

 

[bb skarm]

hey man, nice team. definitely really well built in my opinion, so props to you for that.

one thing i notice at first glance is that, like you said, mega venusaur simply walks all over this team. like, you're literally 6-0d if it has hp fire (which most do, so there's that). another thing i notice is how defensive landorus-t is not very fitting here. it kinda is set up fodder for mega gyarados, mega scizro, and hawlucha (which also 6-0s you after sd). one way to both of these problems is to opt for offensive earth plate lando-t. with full attack investment, you 2hko the bulkiest of mega venusaur after sr, the bulkiest of mega scizor after sr, and guarantee hawlucha is too pressured to set up sub (if you miss that sucks but usually you'll have a 60~ percent chance to hit twice). this also guarantees SR which is obv important, and gives a much more standing offensive presence to your team.

mega lopunny and mega manectric are enormous threats to your team (celebi can be taken advantage of too easily and raikou is hella easy to wear down) which is standard for offense. one way to remedy this would be to change subcm keldeo to choice scarf keldeo. this lets you rk both mega lop and mega manectric (keep raikou alive and force it out and wear it down enough with sr and chip damage). the loss of a wincon does not mean much because you have a dedicated one in rp mega diancie coupled with nasty pass celebi.

sets

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind / Hidden Power Electric

i hope i helped, and good luck

 

[AWILDBIBAREL]

Really, really, nitpicking here, but Raikou should be shiny to not reaveal that you're not running event moves.
lol otherwise i don't know anything but this seems like a decent team.