Introduction
I'd taken a bit of a hiatus from battling, not playing consistently since Gen 6. I wanted to make an offensive team around Mega Lopunny and Gengar, as their combination of speed, power and offensive synergy was appealing. The team looks to suitably weaken checks to Mega Lopunny, often with Gengar utilising Ghostium Z, with the backup of having Choice Scarf Keldeo as cleanup. The team was put together a bit unusually - stitching together two cores I thought would work well (Lopunny / Gengar and Zapdos / Mamoswine), with the remaining two covering any further weaknesses. The team has performed reasonably well to date, peaking at around 1680, but I would love suggestions on how to improve the team, as there are a few weaknesses I would like to address.
The Team
Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Taunt
- Focus Blast
Gengar is reasonably standard, but is a major factor of whether I stand a chance against stall. For this reason, Ghostium Z was chosen - Chansey cannot touch Gengar whatsoever, but it can easily stall out using LO recoil. Ghostium Z will often be employed on Toxapex, Celesteela or Mega Scizor after they switch in to an initial Shadow Ball (the latter two are irrepairably damaged after the Z Move, although I need a bit of prior damage or a SpD drop on Toxapex to secure the 2HKO). This ensures Lopunny and Mamoswine have a considerably easier time breaking down the opposing team. If all else fails, Ghostium Z can be thrown out semi-randomly for a one-time nuke which hits almost everything for a decent chunk of damage and has a high chance of OHKOing defensive Landorus-T after rocks, a pain for Lopunny. The Toxic Spike absorption is also a nice bonus, since Mamoswine, Lopunny and Keldeo are susceptible.
Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Power-Up Punch / Ice Punch(?)
- Fake Out
There isn't too much to say about Lopunny. It can act as a decent switch in to the Dark types which Gengar dislikes (once Mega-Evolved - I often lead with Lopunny with Fake-Out to ensure it gets it's Fighting type early), while Genga comes in on Fairies (mainly Clefable / Tapu Fini) which can tank Lopunny's hits and the odd stray Fighting Type (Mew is a risky switch for Gengar - typically will switch to Magearna, although in my experience a lot don't run Psychic). Really considering dropping Power-Up Punch for Ice Punch - while I feel the team has decent Landorus-T cover already, I've used Power-Up Punch pretty rarely, while Defensive Landorus-T has walled Lopunny a number of times. Unfortunately, Lopunny is frankly crap against stall and is walled by everything but Chansey, but against offensive teams it has performed well.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Defog(?)
- Heat Wave
- Roost
Zapdos looks to be in a good position at the moment. With Hawlucha running everywhere, Zapdos acts as a premier counter and forms good synergy with Mamoswine - Zapdos can easily switch in to Scizor, Celesteela and Ferrothorn which threaten Mamoswine, while Mamoswine gathers one of it's few switch-in opportunities against Electric attacks which Zapdos seems to attract. Three attacks was chosen as again Landorus-T is ubiquitous, but also for Zygarde as nothing on my team enjoys taking Thousand Arrows (although it finds few free switch-ins). With Lopunny potentially opting for Ice Punch, I'm considering running Defog over HP Ice - as the team relies heavily on the speed of Lopunny, Keldeo and Gengar, Sticky Web teams have proven troublesome and contribute to a considerable amount of losses so far.
Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Stealth Rock / Knock Off(?)
Mamoswine is a quite a big threat at the moment as it has good matchups with many of the most common threats such as Heatran, Landorus-T, Toxapex, Tapu Koko, etc. It's STABs are fantastic and leaves it walled by very few Pokemon, which are generally covered by Zapdos above. Mamoswine can also barge through counters with a bit of luck - if Icicle Crash flinches Celesteela, it becomes killable on the switch-in after Stealth Rock, making a Lopunny sweep easier. Again, Mamoswine one of the few chances I have against Stall - little can come in without being 2HKO'd and it gets an almost free switch in on Zapdos. If the stall team has Mega Scizor, I could be in trouble, but it means it doesn't have Mega Sableye at least, meaning Gengar has a chance with Never Ending Nightmare against Scizor or Toxapex. With Zapdos potentially running Defog, I'm considering Knock Off over Stealth Rock - I get relatively few opportunities to set-up where I feel hitting a switch in strongly wouldn't have been a better option. Finally, I really like the double-priority with Lopunny and Mamoswine and it gives a chance against Hawlucha and other faster sweepers even if Zapdos is down.
Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
At this point in team building, I was looking for Pokemon to patch up weaknesses in the team. I saw Greninja / Latios (at least switching in) and Psychic spam (especially Choice Scarf Tapu-Lele and Alakazam, which heavily damage everything else) as threats, so I chose AV Magearna help with this. HP Fire was chosen to potentially catch Mega Scizor for Mamo / Lopunny's benefit, although it is rarely caught out by it. Iron Head was chosen to be usuful against other AV Magearna and provide one last hope of beating a Chansey. Generally though, Magearna's job is to tank a hit and Volt Switch to something that can hit harder - namely Mamo, Gengar or Lopunny, none of which have many switch in opportunities otherwise.
Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Stone Edge
Finally, a Choice-Scarfer to hit any setup sweeper and faster threats. I like Choice Scarfers to both be able to outspeed most setup sweepers at +1 (so above Base 100 speed is important) and to have a chance at cleaning up if all else fails at the end of the game. The team was fairly Volcarona weak and remains reasonably Mega-Zard weak, so Stone Edge was chosen to be able to revenge. All in all, Keldeo is probably the member of the team most susceptible to being swapped, as it was thrown in with the least amount of thought. Potentially could swap with Choice Scarf Latios with Surf, which would help my matchup against stall with Trick while providing a switch against Heatran.
Conclusion
Some threats I've noticed for the team are Sticky Web, A-Marowak (thankfully increasingly rare nowadays), Tangrowth and Toxapex. Overall, I'm happy I built the team as it's brought me a bit more up to speed about the current metagame. I'd love to hear suggestions and weaknesses I've missed, so please, let me know. Thanks for reading!
