Hi everyone, Sableye is not my favorite pokemon (Gyarados is, always buy the magikarp outside Mt. Moon!) but the little demon still is my favorite mega pokemon to use in ORAS OU because hazards are a pain when you rely on lots of switches to keep your team alive.
CORE CONCEPTS:
1. Build around Sableye's hazard control
2. Use a teammate that has toxic spikes
3. Use another ghost (spin blocker) to really fuck over starmie, drill, etc teams. Sableye needs help.
4. Don't use too many rocks weak pokemon, I won't use a defogger. Just concede rocks to clef/heatran.
5. Have decent switch ins to as many threats as possible. Team is defensive in nature.
6. Don't use blobs. Seriously, don't. I've built plenty of stall teams and I hate chansey and clefable.
So here's our starting point:
don't ban me bro (Sableye) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Foul Play
- Knock Off
- Recover
WTF no will-o-wisp? Well, as the team evolved, I truly found very few uses for willo. Firstly, most pokemon will already be statused in another way. Secondly, every team has a heatran/clef/gliscor/charizard/lum-dragon/etc etc to switch in. Having willo does nothing because you will NEVER actually be able to burn the thing that you want to. They just switch out. Burning clef in particular is actually BAD because that means it can't be t-waved later.
Maybe you think I'm crazy, and you're free to change up one of the moves to will-o-wisp if you want. You can run more bulk in SpDef if you want, too, but I strongly recomend as much phys def as possible for things like bisharp, dragonite, excadrill, metagross, and so on.
Next up, I need a toxic spiker. I certainly tried as many as possible. Tentacruel and Scolipede have their ups and downs. I even have a completely separate team with Omastar on it (what a neat talonflame counter eh?) But the best option for me in this case was actually another surprising 'mon:
ban lopunny (Cofagrigus) @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Toxic Spikes
- Pain Split
What a neat pokemon. So many pokemon rely on their ability for effectiveness, such as azumarill and altaria. Removing it is just hilarious. Cofagrius switches in or leads against all kinds of threats and gets up hazards or a burn. He is also bulky as hell and really helps in preventing spins from starmie and excadrill, who can often take down one ghost with good prediction but definitely not two. He can troll so many pokemon, seriously give him a try. Just in a game today I switched in to a +6 gliscor knock off and it immediately died to its own toxic afterwards. Wonderful.
Now, since I'm building a fairly defensive team the first thing on my mind is manaphy, and here's a good first-stage answer.
ban manaphy (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 228 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
Gets off a T-wave then a giga drain on +3 manaphy. Reliable keldeo switch in. Reliable rotom-w switch in. Pretty decent thundurus, raikou, latis switch in. It doesn't have recover though, so be mindful of the time limit. Absolutely detests knock off because passive lefties are crucial for longevity.
Traditional speed EVs to outpace jolly ttar.
+3 252 SpA Manaphy Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 228 SpD Celebi: (81.3 - 96.2%)
252 SpA Life Orb Tornadus-T Hurricane vs. 248 HP / 228 SpD Celebi: (83.1 - 98.7%)
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 228 SpD Celebi: (55 - 65.2%)
252 SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 248 HP / 228 SpD Celebi: (45.6 - 53.8%)
Next, what's the best teammate for a grass type? That's right, a water type. This particular water type also has it's own way of helping out against keldeo and manaphy, and specially defensive is a good zard-y counter, and with intimidate it can troll zard-x as well.
ban charizard (Gyarados) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 216 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Thunder Wave
- Roar
- Rest
Every single move here is crucial. Sorry but there just isn't room for dragon dance or sleep talk. Finding the right times to burn off your sleep turns will be part of your game plan. Sometimes rest is only used to make the enemy take more toxic spikes damage and when you finally wake up you haven't really gained much hp. Still, it's important.
+3 252+ SpA Manaphy Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 216+ SpD Gyarados: (42.2 - 49.8%) - Use Roar
Fifth member of the team is a stall staple who needs no introduction.
ban diancie (Gliscor) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Roost
252 SpA Mega Diancie Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: (44.4 - 52.6%)
252 SpA Life Orb Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: (41.9 - 49.5%)
0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: (43 - 50.9%)
252 SpA Mega Manectric Hidden Power Ice vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: (66.8 - 79.3%)
252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus Hidden Power Ice vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: (82.4 - 97.1%)
What a beast. I love this pokemon.
It is also your token sableye counter. Every team needs something that can set up on opposing sableye.
Last and probably least is this piece of crap.
ban hoopa (Scrafty) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Head Smash
- Fake Out
Hoopa is a monster. And even with this things seemingly perfect typing, rare focus blast special sets beat it. (But in that case gyarados walls it in the future).
Bulk up and dragon dance are definitely trash. Scrafty is trash. But it was between this, klefki, or mandibuzz. Klefki doesn't have headsmash.
+1 252 Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Scrafty: (84.6 - 99.6%)
+6 252+ Atk Scrafty Head Smash vs. -6 0 HP / 0- Def Talonflame: (4369733.3 - 5140866.6%)
So there you have it folks! A brand new sableye team to troll the ladder with! And there are no blobs, quagsires, skarmories, or other boring pokemon. This team has personality!
Here are the main threats to watch out for:
Kyurem-B: What a terrifying creature. Scrafty 1v1s it in theory but is unlikely to be able to get in safely except for fusion bolt.
Zapdos: This defogger is just horrible to face if it has HP-Ice. Yes, sableye can remove lefties. Yes, cofagrius might be able to burn it. But it is likely to be on a stall team and will never go down for good.
Gardevoir: Good god status it asap. Put it on a timer. Attack it! I hate this thing at team preview.
Thundurus: Celebi should be able to double down it with psychic, especially if life orb is killing it off too. Lefties nasty plot on the other hand... well good luck! Hopefully sableye or gliscor had knocked it off beforehand.
Bisharp: Everyone hates this pokemon unless you have infernape. Scrafty can take a +3 iron head and ohko with drain punch, but scrafty must be at full health. Gliscor beats it in theory but jolly outspeeds you and can put serious hurt with a +2 LO knock off.
Serperior: Some of them use taunt or sub which really wrecks celebi or gyarados attempts to disrupt it. Toxic spikes are crucial but if they lead with it then you're in danger! Lead with celebi to test the waters, but you might have to click x depending on if they completely predict your every move.
Talonflame: Sableye, Gyarados, Scrafty, Gliscor can handle the various sets. Hopefully it just kills itself and one of yours for a fair trade off.
Suicune: This thing last mon sweeps like no other. You need to status it with t-wave so all teammates will be faster. Then, you can never attack it. Don't let it use rest for PP relief. Gyarados can take 3 or 4 scalds even at +6 and mainly stalls it out with its own rest. But gyarados doesn't have enough PP to win the war, so, you need to try to make predictions with teammates and burn more PP with them.
Thanks for reading my RMT! I'm open to suggestions. Scrafty is flexible but at the moment keep in mind that it checks hoopa, weavile, bisharp, ohkos talonflame, knocks off items, racks up status damage with fake out, and spreads intimidate in general which is quite nice.
It really is a flex slot. I could see anything from scizor to scarf terrakion working there. Depends on you.
I think pokemon number 6 is the classic "pick your poison" scenario. Every team is weak to something, and you just need to make that decision yourself.
Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-308050717
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-308052425
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-308054480
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-308361280
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