Hey everybody, how's it going? My name is mrseacoore and today I'm posting an RMT in OU since it has been quite a while since an OU post and I wanted to look at a new team with based around the mighty Gardevoir-Mega. I've made two teams (only posting one, but will have an RMT for it later) with different team builds.
I very much prefer this team because it is geared towards my main playstyle: Balanced Offense
I will also showcase this team in the future on my youtube channel that I do for fun.
If you're interested, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcynWwQc_ksCCSMkp2bOrjQ
I do mostly pokemon stuff, though I do play other games too. Thank you for any support and interest.
So this team has been a huge success. I tested it with a fresh alt I made, El Pikachudor
Still climbing the ladder. Currently at 1482 with that account. Here are two replays I did before posting. Both of my opponents were pretty solid players in the mid 1400s.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-427736830
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-427745277
So with the proof aside, let's just get into the team and the idea. I despise stall. I hate stall. I can build stall. I can use stall. I absolutely loathe facing any and all stall based teams. So I decided to try out one Mega that I seldom ever think about. I thought that a really strong fairy type would be fun to use, especially against stall teams. I never thought that this particular one was this unspeakable monster with the power to throw teams around like silly putty; however, after about 20 battles, I very well understood that the only true counters for Gardevoir-Mega are basically only things that can resist her brilliant STAB moves and Chansey with its eviolite in tact. I understood that this dancer has an ability prior to mega evolution that grants her quite a bit of benefits. I also realized that in order to use Gardevoir properly, one must have proper counters for big threats as well as a team who can take easy advantage of her titanic strength to bust through teams like they were made of something weak, like paper mache... Or Raditz.
This team has a surprising amount of diversity in my opinion. I don't really have any problems against any specific playstyle or build. I don't see any glaring flaws on the surface and I certainly fail to see any individual pokemon in OU that stop my team. I can see maybe a handful of combos that could be annoying to face with my team, but even then I have answers. If I had to name one thing that I can see myself having issues with, it's Bulky SD Scizor-Mega. I've faced it with this team before, but it hasn't beaten my team. That doesn't mean it isn't a threat or anything of the sort. I mean, if you ask me, I am under the impression that Scizor-Mega is the best mega evolution in OU because of what it is able to do and for the fact that so many things that opt to run HP Fire solely for it (and Ferrothorn). Scizor is a very powerful pokemon for quite a number of reasons, but I highly doubt there is anyone willing to call Scizor a bad pokemon because of its faults. Essentially every single OU team has to prepare for it (or Ferrothorn). If you don't have an answer for Scizor-Mega, you might as well throw in the towel as soon as you see it use Swords Dance. That's just my opinion anyway. Megagross is another incredibly threatening pokemon as well. I have answers for it, but I don't like seeing it because unlike Scizor, Mega Meta is a thing that is capable of causing pure chaos to a variety of teams as the battle moves toward the middle stages of play as well as the later stages. Even so, my team can deal with them pretty well. Anyway, let's get started.
Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
Like I said, Gardevoir-Mega is an utterly terrifying wall breaker. Mega Gard gains a frightening boost in special attack and some speed as well as a little special defense when compared to the normal form. Trace is the ability of choice as before mega evolution, it can give Gardevoir some versatility. For instance, Gardevoir can gain a huge speed boost by tracing something like Swift Swim given there is weather up. Gardevoir also can trace Regenerator and Intimidate from certain pokemon, which can be very helpful in general. I have had a handful of battles where I purposefully don't mega evolve until later in the battle just to abuse Trace. Once in the mega form, there are very few things that can safely counter Gardevoir's STAB moves. According to the smogon page, the spread is specific so that Gardevoir is not 2HKOed by LO Latios's Psyshock. (Does that truly matter when Latios is insta-KOed by Gardevoir-Mega's Pixilate boosted Hyper Voice?) I'd honestly prefer being able to survive something on the special side with Mega Gard, but I'm still not complaining. You tell me what wants to take a Pixilate boosted STAB Hyper Voice backed by a monstrous 424 Special Attack. I like the Timid Nature so that I can speed tie with other Base 100s in the mega form, such as Medicham-Mega. Before I maxed out the speed, I ran enough speed to hit 319, which is faster than every unboosted pokemon with base 95 speed or less. After losing a battle to a rogue Medicham-Mega, I decided that being able to speed tie opposing base 100s was more desirable than not. Hyper Voice and Psyshock are mandatory STAB for Mega Gardevoir. I run Protect to help scout and dodge a predicted HJK (Gardevoir won't stay in and take a return, therefore the opponent uses HJK to slam the Garchomp or Tangrowth counter. That's the train of thought there.) Protect also allows me to stall out weather turns just a bit as well as gives me an easier time reaching the mega form, as 80 base speed isn't the easiest thing to work with in the fast paced OU tier. It is completely viable to run a coverage move here though. I chose Will-O-Wisp in the fourth slot because I highly enjoy crippling obvious physical counters with a nasty burn, such as Scizor and Metagross. W-o-W generally gives me some breathing room against physical attackers more often than not as a battle progresses. Focus Blast is equally viable though. Regardless, Mega Gardevoir is a serious threat no one should take lightly.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
If you ask me, Tyranitar is the best pursuit trapper in all of pokemon. T-tar is a rock monster made of solid bulk and power. The only two things that hold this powerhouse back are the poor speed and less than stellar Rock/Dark typing it seems. Either way, T-tar is a wonderful pokemon with amazing versatility and traits that can really benefit a team when used properly. I'm using a banded T-tar, which makes it unnecessarily difficult for anything to escape being pursuit trapped. Lati@s, Talonflame, Thundurus and Tornadus-T lacking focus blast or superpower, Gengar, Starmie, Excadrill locked into rock slide or rapid spin, etc. are all examples. I've even caught players trying to predict my double into something with pursuit. Adamant is the nature of choice to essentially skyrocket T-tar's already great attack stat with the choice band. Sand Stream bolsters the special defense as if there were an assault vest due to T-tar's rock typing. My spread basically enables Tyranitar to outpace bulky variants of Rotom. (I believe the most common sets for Rotom-W run 8 Spe EVs. Correct me if I'm wrong.) The remaining EVs not in attack or speed go into HP to increase fatness. Stone Edge and Crunch are solid STAB moves. Pursuit is a great move for T-tar and gets a STAB boost. Superpower is primarily for coverage on Heatran and opposing Tyranitar, but it also provides great neutral coverage alongside the STAB. Rock Slide, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and the interesting Thunder Wave are all options to replace Superpower in the 4th moveslot. T-tar is an excellent pursuit trapper and really helps the team out against bulkier teams as well as against threats like Talonflame.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
This is honestly my favorite variant of Excadrill because it puts many faster offensive teams in check. Excadrill outspeeds all of the unboosted meta with a choice scarf granted it runs a Jolly Nature. Mold Breaker is a blessing for this little guy because it gives STAB Earthquake a nice addition of new targets, such as Rotom, Lati@s, and Gengar. The spread should be self explanatory. EQ and Iron Head are solid STAB moves. Rock Slide is good coverage for Zard-Y and Talonflame. Rapid Spin just gets rid of hazards and works very well when you reach a point that the mole can be sacked. This is a primary answer to Clefairy and Diancie as well as a number of grounded pokemon. During the late game, Excadrill has good chances at cleaning with Iron Head or Earthquake thanks to what Gardevoir does to everything that isn't a steel type. If you aren't using Excadrill with Sand Rush, try using Mold Breaker with a choice scarf. You'd be surprised how convenient it is.
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
"Hello. Welcome to the OU tier. You have been selected to face all of our best warriors and gladiators in a fight to the death!!! If you help your team win, you will walk out with a brand new car! If not, you'll receive a consolation prize of a free tombstone at your funeral," says Tangrowth. Honestly, how could you not love this guy? Tangrowth just seems to fit so well on a good number of teams just because of everything that is in fact Tangrowth. Bulk, Utility, Coverage, Regenerator, Tank, Pivot, Fat, and Typing. Tangrowth is without a doubt every one of those things. For this team, I decided that running AV Tangrowth was most optimal due to the fact that Keldeo is a complete nuisance on my team. I'm sorry, but I don't like the idea of having to sack something to Keldeo every single time it comes into battle. I appreciate Tangrowth's ability to counter and check a large portion of the tier as an overall bulky tank with the addition of Assault Vest. It has naturally good defense and a really fat base 100 HP. Couple that with Regenerator and you have this monster. This gives my team a much easier time dealing with ground and water types that I just can't refuse it. Giga Drain is a cool STAB move that doesn't come with a nasty SpA drop as does Leaf Storm. Knock Off is amazing utility, especially during the early parts of the game. Earthquake is primarily to catch Heatran on the switch, but EQ does provide Tangrowth with some really awesome ground coverage. Any team can always appreciate ground type coverage. HP Fire is my choice in the 4th slot because there is no mistaking how desperate my team is for an answer to Scizor-Mega. If you ever run a Fairy type Mega Evolution on your team, you will agree that you absolutely cannot go into any battle without some solid strategy of handling Scizor and Ferrothorn. Every team should pack at least something that can cover those mons. Tangrowth is one of them on my team. I'm not necessarily looking for an OHKO on either one. I just want to drop their HP well below 50% by nailing them on their 4x fire weakness. Tangrowth is still really solid on the physical despite having 0 Def investment. That makes it a little tougher on Scizor-Mega to decide on its move when its facing this 1v1. Tangrowth also has an extra benefit of luring in Scizor, which is only more reason to use it for my team. Tangrowth has a nice synergy with my whole team if we're being honest. It's a great pokemon. The spread is slightly different from the smogon page as well. I just wanted to make up for the IV loss from HP Fire. If that's a mistake for this particular case, please give me the reason why. I like learning and would rather understand the reason behind something rather than just being told something.
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Fang
When you look back and see this before 6th gen, you realize that GameFreak created a true monster. When you look at this now, you realize that it simply is powerful. It doesn't have to do anything except set up rocks and it's a good pokemon just due to this set's nature. Anything that touches Tankchomp loses 28% of its health given Rocky Helmet hasn't been removed. Garchomp is extremely bulky and makes for one of the best answers to Bisharp and Talonflame and Zard-X in the tier just because of what it does. Despite have no attack investment, it still takes a sizable chomp out of opposing mons with its STAB and it gets fantastic coverage from its movepool. Garchomp for this team is doing what it does best. It is a great answer for Mega Meta not running Ice Punch. It is a solid answer for Scizor-Mega as well. This being partnered with Tangrowth is incredibly nice for the team as a whole because they both deal with their respective weaknesses outside of ice types while also double checking the larger threats to my team such as Metagross and Scizor. Fire Fang is more accurate than Fire Blast and does at least the same damage to the targets it was meant to hit apart from Skarmory. I'm not going to go into detail with the functionality of this set because it is notoriously known as Tankchomp and nearly everyone is aware of it.
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost
First, before anyone says a damn word about the set and spread I am using, please allow me to explain why I am not using your suggested set that is the exact same moveset only with Jolly Nature and Speed over HP. Talonflame gets +1 priority in flying type STAB due to Gale Wings. I rarely ever want to use Flare Blitz because Brave Bird is my primary move of choice. Raikou? Oh you outspeed? You can't counter this variant of Talonflame if you've already taken hazard damage once before. If I'm at +2, Raikou better pray that it hasn't taken more damage than coming in on rocks once. Let's actually talk about how this variant bluffs the banded set, does about 10% more damage to everything with its STAB, and heavily threatens to virtually sweep somehow after hitting +2. The added bulk investment give Talonflame a little more fatness to fall back on during recoil in addition to making Talonflame fatter and more able to set up Swords Dances. The only time I need this Talonflame to use Flare Blitz is when there is a Ferrothorn, Skarmory, or Scizor in front of me. I highly respect and understand why the main set is a Jolly Nature with max speed EVs. I really do. It is more able to beat Raikou 1v1 and it outspeeds Weavile's Ice Shard if it's in a tight spot. It outspeeds more things and has a slightly easier time when handling fast steel types like Metagross. I get all of that and I think that all of that is true. However, I do not need any of those things for this team because I already have answers for said problems. Weavile is tough to deal with in general, but Excadrill and this Talonflame are able to handle it. The extra bulk sincerely helps Talonflame deal with the loss of speed and decreases the amount of HP lost from recoil to a small extent. But the most important factor I want to address is the fact that the Adamant nature greatly helps Talonflame revenge kill threats to my team, such as Mega Zard X and Y, Kyurem, Clefable, Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Azumarill, Manaphy, and so on. It makes it easier to revenge kill. This birdy's primary job is not to sweep. That's the secondary job. This Talonflame is primarily meant to revenge kill and clean up. If I get a chance to sweep, hell yeah I'm gonna take it. But until then, I'm not trying to sweep with this. It just has the option to do so if it gets the chance. Opposing Talonflame are handled easily by Garchomp and T-tar. This talonflame is a hybrid set of the offensive variant with the maxed out speed and the bulky set with no item and 248 HP. I'm not trying to be a butthole, even though I'm basically being a butthole about it. I'm just trying to say that this Talonflame is more useful for the team. I've tried this team with the normal speedier variant, but that variant just can't hit the right numbers to pick up my most bothersome threats. This variant of Talonflame has to be used a little bit differently than the speedy one, but I'm okay with that. It functions better on my team because I don't need it to take care of itself more than I need it to take care of my team's faults.
Sorry for being salty about the talonflame. I just don't want to hear the old story about the speedy set being better for x, y, and z reasons. I only need Talonflame to deal with a larger number of threats to my team rather than to itself. Yes, the speedy set has a higher chance of beating mega Meta, but that variant does not do as much damage to neutral targets, which is a need for my team because things like Tornadus-T, Scarf Lando, Zard Mega X and Y, other offensive setup sweepers, and Clefable are issues that I would like to handle more than I would like to handle the single Mega Meta. I'm more of the mindset that the team should handle as many different threats as it can rather than address a single threat when the team does have ways of dealing with said threat to start with.
Anyway, that's all for the team everybody. Again, sorry for being a butthole with Talonflame. I hope you all enjoyed the RMT and I hope you like the team. I'm open and appreciative to feedback. Also, go check out my channel if you're interested. Thank you all.
I very much prefer this team because it is geared towards my main playstyle: Balanced Offense
I will also showcase this team in the future on my youtube channel that I do for fun.
If you're interested, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcynWwQc_ksCCSMkp2bOrjQ
I do mostly pokemon stuff, though I do play other games too. Thank you for any support and interest.
So this team has been a huge success. I tested it with a fresh alt I made, El Pikachudor
Still climbing the ladder. Currently at 1482 with that account. Here are two replays I did before posting. Both of my opponents were pretty solid players in the mid 1400s.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-427736830
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-427745277
So with the proof aside, let's just get into the team and the idea. I despise stall. I hate stall. I can build stall. I can use stall. I absolutely loathe facing any and all stall based teams. So I decided to try out one Mega that I seldom ever think about. I thought that a really strong fairy type would be fun to use, especially against stall teams. I never thought that this particular one was this unspeakable monster with the power to throw teams around like silly putty; however, after about 20 battles, I very well understood that the only true counters for Gardevoir-Mega are basically only things that can resist her brilliant STAB moves and Chansey with its eviolite in tact. I understood that this dancer has an ability prior to mega evolution that grants her quite a bit of benefits. I also realized that in order to use Gardevoir properly, one must have proper counters for big threats as well as a team who can take easy advantage of her titanic strength to bust through teams like they were made of something weak, like paper mache... Or Raditz.
This team has a surprising amount of diversity in my opinion. I don't really have any problems against any specific playstyle or build. I don't see any glaring flaws on the surface and I certainly fail to see any individual pokemon in OU that stop my team. I can see maybe a handful of combos that could be annoying to face with my team, but even then I have answers. If I had to name one thing that I can see myself having issues with, it's Bulky SD Scizor-Mega. I've faced it with this team before, but it hasn't beaten my team. That doesn't mean it isn't a threat or anything of the sort. I mean, if you ask me, I am under the impression that Scizor-Mega is the best mega evolution in OU because of what it is able to do and for the fact that so many things that opt to run HP Fire solely for it (and Ferrothorn). Scizor is a very powerful pokemon for quite a number of reasons, but I highly doubt there is anyone willing to call Scizor a bad pokemon because of its faults. Essentially every single OU team has to prepare for it (or Ferrothorn). If you don't have an answer for Scizor-Mega, you might as well throw in the towel as soon as you see it use Swords Dance. That's just my opinion anyway. Megagross is another incredibly threatening pokemon as well. I have answers for it, but I don't like seeing it because unlike Scizor, Mega Meta is a thing that is capable of causing pure chaos to a variety of teams as the battle moves toward the middle stages of play as well as the later stages. Even so, my team can deal with them pretty well. Anyway, let's get started.
Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
Like I said, Gardevoir-Mega is an utterly terrifying wall breaker. Mega Gard gains a frightening boost in special attack and some speed as well as a little special defense when compared to the normal form. Trace is the ability of choice as before mega evolution, it can give Gardevoir some versatility. For instance, Gardevoir can gain a huge speed boost by tracing something like Swift Swim given there is weather up. Gardevoir also can trace Regenerator and Intimidate from certain pokemon, which can be very helpful in general. I have had a handful of battles where I purposefully don't mega evolve until later in the battle just to abuse Trace. Once in the mega form, there are very few things that can safely counter Gardevoir's STAB moves. According to the smogon page, the spread is specific so that Gardevoir is not 2HKOed by LO Latios's Psyshock. (Does that truly matter when Latios is insta-KOed by Gardevoir-Mega's Pixilate boosted Hyper Voice?) I'd honestly prefer being able to survive something on the special side with Mega Gard, but I'm still not complaining. You tell me what wants to take a Pixilate boosted STAB Hyper Voice backed by a monstrous 424 Special Attack. I like the Timid Nature so that I can speed tie with other Base 100s in the mega form, such as Medicham-Mega. Before I maxed out the speed, I ran enough speed to hit 319, which is faster than every unboosted pokemon with base 95 speed or less. After losing a battle to a rogue Medicham-Mega, I decided that being able to speed tie opposing base 100s was more desirable than not. Hyper Voice and Psyshock are mandatory STAB for Mega Gardevoir. I run Protect to help scout and dodge a predicted HJK (Gardevoir won't stay in and take a return, therefore the opponent uses HJK to slam the Garchomp or Tangrowth counter. That's the train of thought there.) Protect also allows me to stall out weather turns just a bit as well as gives me an easier time reaching the mega form, as 80 base speed isn't the easiest thing to work with in the fast paced OU tier. It is completely viable to run a coverage move here though. I chose Will-O-Wisp in the fourth slot because I highly enjoy crippling obvious physical counters with a nasty burn, such as Scizor and Metagross. W-o-W generally gives me some breathing room against physical attackers more often than not as a battle progresses. Focus Blast is equally viable though. Regardless, Mega Gardevoir is a serious threat no one should take lightly.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
If you ask me, Tyranitar is the best pursuit trapper in all of pokemon. T-tar is a rock monster made of solid bulk and power. The only two things that hold this powerhouse back are the poor speed and less than stellar Rock/Dark typing it seems. Either way, T-tar is a wonderful pokemon with amazing versatility and traits that can really benefit a team when used properly. I'm using a banded T-tar, which makes it unnecessarily difficult for anything to escape being pursuit trapped. Lati@s, Talonflame, Thundurus and Tornadus-T lacking focus blast or superpower, Gengar, Starmie, Excadrill locked into rock slide or rapid spin, etc. are all examples. I've even caught players trying to predict my double into something with pursuit. Adamant is the nature of choice to essentially skyrocket T-tar's already great attack stat with the choice band. Sand Stream bolsters the special defense as if there were an assault vest due to T-tar's rock typing. My spread basically enables Tyranitar to outpace bulky variants of Rotom. (I believe the most common sets for Rotom-W run 8 Spe EVs. Correct me if I'm wrong.) The remaining EVs not in attack or speed go into HP to increase fatness. Stone Edge and Crunch are solid STAB moves. Pursuit is a great move for T-tar and gets a STAB boost. Superpower is primarily for coverage on Heatran and opposing Tyranitar, but it also provides great neutral coverage alongside the STAB. Rock Slide, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and the interesting Thunder Wave are all options to replace Superpower in the 4th moveslot. T-tar is an excellent pursuit trapper and really helps the team out against bulkier teams as well as against threats like Talonflame.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
This is honestly my favorite variant of Excadrill because it puts many faster offensive teams in check. Excadrill outspeeds all of the unboosted meta with a choice scarf granted it runs a Jolly Nature. Mold Breaker is a blessing for this little guy because it gives STAB Earthquake a nice addition of new targets, such as Rotom, Lati@s, and Gengar. The spread should be self explanatory. EQ and Iron Head are solid STAB moves. Rock Slide is good coverage for Zard-Y and Talonflame. Rapid Spin just gets rid of hazards and works very well when you reach a point that the mole can be sacked. This is a primary answer to Clefairy and Diancie as well as a number of grounded pokemon. During the late game, Excadrill has good chances at cleaning with Iron Head or Earthquake thanks to what Gardevoir does to everything that isn't a steel type. If you aren't using Excadrill with Sand Rush, try using Mold Breaker with a choice scarf. You'd be surprised how convenient it is.
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
"Hello. Welcome to the OU tier. You have been selected to face all of our best warriors and gladiators in a fight to the death!!! If you help your team win, you will walk out with a brand new car! If not, you'll receive a consolation prize of a free tombstone at your funeral," says Tangrowth. Honestly, how could you not love this guy? Tangrowth just seems to fit so well on a good number of teams just because of everything that is in fact Tangrowth. Bulk, Utility, Coverage, Regenerator, Tank, Pivot, Fat, and Typing. Tangrowth is without a doubt every one of those things. For this team, I decided that running AV Tangrowth was most optimal due to the fact that Keldeo is a complete nuisance on my team. I'm sorry, but I don't like the idea of having to sack something to Keldeo every single time it comes into battle. I appreciate Tangrowth's ability to counter and check a large portion of the tier as an overall bulky tank with the addition of Assault Vest. It has naturally good defense and a really fat base 100 HP. Couple that with Regenerator and you have this monster. This gives my team a much easier time dealing with ground and water types that I just can't refuse it. Giga Drain is a cool STAB move that doesn't come with a nasty SpA drop as does Leaf Storm. Knock Off is amazing utility, especially during the early parts of the game. Earthquake is primarily to catch Heatran on the switch, but EQ does provide Tangrowth with some really awesome ground coverage. Any team can always appreciate ground type coverage. HP Fire is my choice in the 4th slot because there is no mistaking how desperate my team is for an answer to Scizor-Mega. If you ever run a Fairy type Mega Evolution on your team, you will agree that you absolutely cannot go into any battle without some solid strategy of handling Scizor and Ferrothorn. Every team should pack at least something that can cover those mons. Tangrowth is one of them on my team. I'm not necessarily looking for an OHKO on either one. I just want to drop their HP well below 50% by nailing them on their 4x fire weakness. Tangrowth is still really solid on the physical despite having 0 Def investment. That makes it a little tougher on Scizor-Mega to decide on its move when its facing this 1v1. Tangrowth also has an extra benefit of luring in Scizor, which is only more reason to use it for my team. Tangrowth has a nice synergy with my whole team if we're being honest. It's a great pokemon. The spread is slightly different from the smogon page as well. I just wanted to make up for the IV loss from HP Fire. If that's a mistake for this particular case, please give me the reason why. I like learning and would rather understand the reason behind something rather than just being told something.
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Fang
When you look back and see this before 6th gen, you realize that GameFreak created a true monster. When you look at this now, you realize that it simply is powerful. It doesn't have to do anything except set up rocks and it's a good pokemon just due to this set's nature. Anything that touches Tankchomp loses 28% of its health given Rocky Helmet hasn't been removed. Garchomp is extremely bulky and makes for one of the best answers to Bisharp and Talonflame and Zard-X in the tier just because of what it does. Despite have no attack investment, it still takes a sizable chomp out of opposing mons with its STAB and it gets fantastic coverage from its movepool. Garchomp for this team is doing what it does best. It is a great answer for Mega Meta not running Ice Punch. It is a solid answer for Scizor-Mega as well. This being partnered with Tangrowth is incredibly nice for the team as a whole because they both deal with their respective weaknesses outside of ice types while also double checking the larger threats to my team such as Metagross and Scizor. Fire Fang is more accurate than Fire Blast and does at least the same damage to the targets it was meant to hit apart from Skarmory. I'm not going to go into detail with the functionality of this set because it is notoriously known as Tankchomp and nearly everyone is aware of it.
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost
First, before anyone says a damn word about the set and spread I am using, please allow me to explain why I am not using your suggested set that is the exact same moveset only with Jolly Nature and Speed over HP. Talonflame gets +1 priority in flying type STAB due to Gale Wings. I rarely ever want to use Flare Blitz because Brave Bird is my primary move of choice. Raikou? Oh you outspeed? You can't counter this variant of Talonflame if you've already taken hazard damage once before. If I'm at +2, Raikou better pray that it hasn't taken more damage than coming in on rocks once. Let's actually talk about how this variant bluffs the banded set, does about 10% more damage to everything with its STAB, and heavily threatens to virtually sweep somehow after hitting +2. The added bulk investment give Talonflame a little more fatness to fall back on during recoil in addition to making Talonflame fatter and more able to set up Swords Dances. The only time I need this Talonflame to use Flare Blitz is when there is a Ferrothorn, Skarmory, or Scizor in front of me. I highly respect and understand why the main set is a Jolly Nature with max speed EVs. I really do. It is more able to beat Raikou 1v1 and it outspeeds Weavile's Ice Shard if it's in a tight spot. It outspeeds more things and has a slightly easier time when handling fast steel types like Metagross. I get all of that and I think that all of that is true. However, I do not need any of those things for this team because I already have answers for said problems. Weavile is tough to deal with in general, but Excadrill and this Talonflame are able to handle it. The extra bulk sincerely helps Talonflame deal with the loss of speed and decreases the amount of HP lost from recoil to a small extent. But the most important factor I want to address is the fact that the Adamant nature greatly helps Talonflame revenge kill threats to my team, such as Mega Zard X and Y, Kyurem, Clefable, Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Azumarill, Manaphy, and so on. It makes it easier to revenge kill. This birdy's primary job is not to sweep. That's the secondary job. This Talonflame is primarily meant to revenge kill and clean up. If I get a chance to sweep, hell yeah I'm gonna take it. But until then, I'm not trying to sweep with this. It just has the option to do so if it gets the chance. Opposing Talonflame are handled easily by Garchomp and T-tar. This talonflame is a hybrid set of the offensive variant with the maxed out speed and the bulky set with no item and 248 HP. I'm not trying to be a butthole, even though I'm basically being a butthole about it. I'm just trying to say that this Talonflame is more useful for the team. I've tried this team with the normal speedier variant, but that variant just can't hit the right numbers to pick up my most bothersome threats. This variant of Talonflame has to be used a little bit differently than the speedy one, but I'm okay with that. It functions better on my team because I don't need it to take care of itself more than I need it to take care of my team's faults.
Sorry for being salty about the talonflame. I just don't want to hear the old story about the speedy set being better for x, y, and z reasons. I only need Talonflame to deal with a larger number of threats to my team rather than to itself. Yes, the speedy set has a higher chance of beating mega Meta, but that variant does not do as much damage to neutral targets, which is a need for my team because things like Tornadus-T, Scarf Lando, Zard Mega X and Y, other offensive setup sweepers, and Clefable are issues that I would like to handle more than I would like to handle the single Mega Meta. I'm more of the mindset that the team should handle as many different threats as it can rather than address a single threat when the team does have ways of dealing with said threat to start with.
Anyway, that's all for the team everybody. Again, sorry for being a butthole with Talonflame. I hope you all enjoyed the RMT and I hope you like the team. I'm open and appreciative to feedback. Also, go check out my channel if you're interested. Thank you all.
Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Fang
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Fang
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost
