When I first laid eyes on Mega Altaria, and found out about that glorious Fairy/Dragon typing, I knew that it would eventually be one of my favorite megas. And while it shares that spot with my main man Slowbro, I decided to give it a shot on the battlefield, and it sure did exceed my expectations, and after a little bit of playing around with it, I came up with this team which has been working pretty well for me. In terms of play style, it is not quite hyper offense, but it isn't a balanced team either. The entire goal is to eliminate all threats to Mega Altaria so that it can set up and bring doom upon its opponents. So here is the team:
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Team Building Process:
I started with these two, because they have good synergy with each other, both offensively and defensively. I also saw that Magnezone would be able to trap and kill those pesky steel types that Altaria couldn't kill, specifically Ferrothorn and Skarmory.
I then wanted some combination of a stealth rocker and wall breaker, and for that reason I chose to add Terrakion. I picked him to muscle past the things that I couldn't beat, like Rotom-h, and to just put a dent in the opponent's team so that Altaria could sweep.
Next I wanted something to get rid of my hazards, and to also help assist Magnezone in clearing out fairies, such as opposing Mega Altaria, so I chose Scizor. Scizor also helps keep my momentum up by knocking off items from my opponents or U-turning out.
I then noticed that after Altaria Mega Evolved, I had a pretty crippling weakness to ground types, as well as a very physical oriented team, so Gengar was a natural choice. Due to his speed, his wide range of attack options, and his ability to just mess with opponents, he usually leads the team into battle.
For my last team member, I needed something that could take hits from and retaliate against 2 of the biggest threats against my team, Talonflame, Mega Metagross and scarf Excadrill, so Rotom-W was the only way to go. He also further helps to alleviate my weakness to ground.
The Team:
Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure -> Pixilate
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 96 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Return
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Roost
First and foremost we have the beast himself. Mega Altaria has proven to be a fierce and versatile pokemon that every trainer has to be aware of, and that is why I chose to use him. In battles, I tend to keep him to the back, waiting for his counters to be destroyed before he comes into battle to begin setting up. I chose a more defensive set so that it is easier for Altaria to switch in and set up, while also adding a more bulky element to my team. The reason I chose earthquake in my moveset was because I found that Mega Metagross and Heatran kept on wrecking me, so I needed a move that I could use in a last ditch effort to kill those monsters.
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Quick Attack
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
Next is Mr. Wallbreaker, and he sure does a good job of it. Besides helping Magnezone get rid of the steels that it can't get past such as excadrill, Terrakion also muscles through walls like chansey that the rest of the team has trouble breaking. I gave him Stealth Rocks because I figured that the opponent would do a lot of switching out against him, which gives him plenty of opportunities to set them up. I gave him quick attack so that I had a way to revenge kill some worn down pokemon on my opponent's team.
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
With Altaria being countered by a lot of steel types, magnezone was a great option to get rid of them. This is just the classic scarfzone set with no tricks whatsoever, but it doesn't need any tricks in order to get the job done. Hidden power fire helps get rid of ferrothorn and scizor, flash cannon shoots down fairies, and Thunderbolt and Volt switch are solid stab moves. Volt switch was a really good option on Magnezone, because it sort of forms a Volturn pseudo-core with Scizor and Rotom, and helps keep up my momentum.
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 200 Hp/ 188 Atk/ 120 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Scizor is a darn good defogger, as well as a darn good revenge killer. At first it might seem strange as to why I gave him 3 attack moves over 2 attack moves and roost, but I chose to give him U-turn over roost in order to complete my voltturn pseudo-core, and so that once scizor finished his job, he wasn't just dead weight on the field. I wanted him to be as offensive as possible while still being bulky, so that is why I chose to give him those EVs. Knock off is to widen my coverage, as well as being a great utility move to mess with my opponent.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is the only pokemon on this team that fully prevents physical attackers such as megagross and Talonflame from ripping my team to shreds. It is just a standard physically defensive set, and neuters physical attackers to make them more easy to manage for the rest of my team. As I've spoken of before Rotom-W helps form my voltturn pseudo-core, and also helps defeat the ground types that two of my big attackers are weak to. Hydro Pump also gives me a water type attack at my disposal to further put down fire types.
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Substitute
Last but not least is my lead and joker, Gengar. Gengar's set might be a little bit weird, but hear me out. Psychic was necessary for my team to defeat Mega Venusaur, as Mega Venusaur has nothing to hit Gengar hard, and Substitute blocks leech seed and sleep powder. Sludge Wave and Shadow ball are just standard stab options that hit hard. Other than that, Gengar is a strong attacker to start off the game with, as it has very wide coverage and helps beat up the opponent right off the bat.
Weaknesses:
Mega Metagross: Its wide coverage options, as well as its speed makes it very hard for my team to take down, especially if it is already weakened, and Rotom-W is dead.
Talonflame: Talonflame is just too fast for much of my team to take care of. The combination of its stabs can take out my whole team bar Altaria and Rotom-W, with the former having no moves to hit it hard enough.
Will-o-wisp: With a large portion of my strategy relying on physical attackers, being burned can really mess up my team.
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Thank you for reading this! Please help me make my team better by offering suggestions and rating my team!
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