So first things first, not a great team builder for the ladder play. But I started moving this team around a bit and came up with a decent team. Just a little curious if anyone can find something that greatly improves the team overall since I have been able to climb into the mid 1500s without playing a great many games.
The team
1600s hot (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere
This is my switch into a lot of special threats. If your opponent doesn't have a ground type, then this is a great pivot. Switch into something and volt switch out into threat to keep the offense going. If your opponent has a garchomp or a landorus-t, expect it to switch into Magearna. Which is why we run Ice beam.
4+ SpA Magearna Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 420-496 (109.9 - 129.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Very easy one shot and with the soul heart boost, this turns from a pivot to another threat against your opponent. Aura sphere is to hit incoming ferrothorns and heatrans for some damage before volt switching out. Notable calcs against heatran
4+ SpA Magearna Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 150-178 (38.8 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Heatran Lava Plume vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 104-126 (28.5 - 34.6%) -- 3.5% chance to 3HKO
And ferrothorn
4+ SpA Magearna Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 122-144 (34.6 - 40.9%) -- 55.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
The special defense on this pokemon is what really makes it fun to use however since most special attackers do not one shot Magearna.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 258-306 (70.8 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
trans woman? (Tapu Fini) @ Icium Z
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 20 SpD / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Nature's Madness
- Surf
- Defog
Next up is my fun defog user tapu fini. I decided to run a fun z-haze set instead of the normal leftovers recovery. If you aren't aware, z-haze functions like haze, but heals you back to full so its a trade off. However a cool little thing I noticed about this fini is that you can defog freely against bisharp with z-haze.
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 176+ Def Tapu Fini: 230-270 (67 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Plus 2 iron head doesn't one shot, so you can eliminate hazards and reset the defiant boost. Surf is meant to hit water types hard and nature's madness is for any wall planning on switching in on it. The Sp def isn't too invested but you can live some decent attacks that aren't stab and super effective.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magearna Fleur Cannon vs. 248 HP / 20 SpD Tapu Fini: 274-324 (79.8 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
shiny dog (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 0 Spe
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
A pretty standard defensive wall. Hidden power Ice is for other landorus-t and min speed to get the slow u-turn into an offensive threat. Decent rock setter and earthquake switch-in, after getting rocks up its main goal is to switch into physical threats and get off as much damage as possible before gaining momentum. No need to run calcs, its defensive landorus-t. It lives what you expect it to live and dies to what you expect it to die from.
Male frieza (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
First of 3 win conditions. If there are no more steel and dark types left on your opponents team, click psyshock. Psyshock helps eliminate special walls, especially early on in games so moonblast can clean up later. If there is a dark type left and no steel types, click moonblast. If your opponent is going to switch into lele or mega metagross, click shadow ball. If your opponent is going to switch into ferrothorn, click hidden power fire. Only switch into this set is heatran, so play accordingly. If this pokemon is not your win condition, use it to weaken walls. The timid nature is to help outspeed and knock out every non-scarfed lele switch ins since most if not all lele's are running attack boosting natures.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Lele: 232-274 (82.5 - 97.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 286-338 (95 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Metagross-Mega: 242-286 (80.3 - 95%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 300-356 (85.2 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
God Bug (Pinsir-Mega) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Quick Attack
- Frustration
- Close Combat
Second win condition, Mega Pinsir is a very underrated attacker that got the spotlight it should have gotten with the famous sticky web team. Base 105 is extremely fast, but scarfers will still outspeed. Swords dance is to take advantage of free turns, one of which are defensive landorus-t switch ins before mega evolving.
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Pinsir-Mega Frustration vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 361-426 (94.5 - 111.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Thanks to hyper cutter, landorus-t won't get the intimidate off and frustration can essentially one shot. I run close combat over earthquake as the coverage move to better deal with celesteela's, ferrothorns, and other steel types who don't take much in earthquake damage. Only a few things will prevent this from sweeping teams so you need to be prepared for them. Mamoswine, tapu koko, zapdos, thundurus (both forms) magearna, and metagross will stop this however you would most likely find 2 of these on a team in which case this becomes something that weakens walls for other teams. Make sure to keep rocks off the field, mega pinsir can live a decent amount of neutral physical hits.
Not a shark (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang
Final win condition, scarf Garchomp can really do damage. If Lele and Mega pinsir eliminate flying types, levitaters, and weaken earthquake resistances, this will sweep easily.
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Greninja-Ash: 226-267 (79.2 - 93.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Greninja-Ash Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 255-301 (71.2 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 268-316 (74.8 - 88.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With the loss of pheramosa, garchomp does massive damage to everything now and can live any scarfer that could possibly outspeed it and knock it out. Stone edge is to catch flying types early in the game, dragon claw is for any flying dragon type or if you don't want to miss stone edge against the flying types. Fire fang can catch ferrothorn or celesteela on the switch in. Running fire fang over poison jab since tapu bulu isn't a big threat to the team.
Threats-
Mamoswine- Ice and ground coverage deal with both defensive pivots in magearna and landorus-t. Tapu fini can check it but cannot safetly switch in to mamoswine. Tapu lele also switches in well but usually you need to sack something which isnt preferred.
252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 176+ Def Tapu Fini in Misty Terrain: 164-192 (47.8 - 55.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Tapu Fini Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mamoswine: 278-330 (77 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Celesteela- Strongest fire moves are hidden power fire from lele and fire fang from garchomp. Only electric move is volt switch from magearna. Luckily Celesteela only has leech seed, giga drain, and leftovers as recovery so wearing it down isn't too difficult. Just identify your win condition and use everything else to wear down the celesteela.
Fast flying electric types- Fast flying electric types give this team nightmares. While I would say fast bolt beam could give trouble as well, fast flying electric types can actually switch in on pretty much everything on the team. Keeping stealth rocks up and whittling it down are probably your best bets on dealing with those but Zapdos and Thundurus-Therian can almost be instant losses
Not sure what I would replace to make this team better. I know the triple ice weakness isn't good but somehow this team works pretty well. Z-haze gives fini one reliable recovery turn a game and is a perfect knock off switch-in. Magearna with assault vest lives so many special attacks and you can usually catch defensive landorus-t switch ins with ice beam opening up both mega pinsir and garchomp to sweep.
Replays
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-560115212
Magearna cannot be slept on, and if you keep all 3 win conditions healthy end game can have different pokemon potentially win
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-558918611
Figure out what your win condition is and open up the whole for it. Landorus-T got weakened and Mega Metagross went down allows Mega pinsir and Specs lele to sweep.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-558758340
This is why we run psyshock over psychic. Keeping Tapu Fini in to get damage on Zapdos normally doesn't seem like the correct play, but a weakened zapdos opens the door for a mega pinsir win at the end.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7oususpecttest-557872192
Magearna is a very solid threat even when it is revealed to be a sp def varient. Scarf Garchomp is also a tremendous threat, and timid specs lele can often catch people by surprise.
The team
1600s hot (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere
This is my switch into a lot of special threats. If your opponent doesn't have a ground type, then this is a great pivot. Switch into something and volt switch out into threat to keep the offense going. If your opponent has a garchomp or a landorus-t, expect it to switch into Magearna. Which is why we run Ice beam.
4+ SpA Magearna Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 420-496 (109.9 - 129.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Very easy one shot and with the soul heart boost, this turns from a pivot to another threat against your opponent. Aura sphere is to hit incoming ferrothorns and heatrans for some damage before volt switching out. Notable calcs against heatran
4+ SpA Magearna Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 150-178 (38.8 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Heatran Lava Plume vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 104-126 (28.5 - 34.6%) -- 3.5% chance to 3HKO
And ferrothorn
4+ SpA Magearna Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 122-144 (34.6 - 40.9%) -- 55.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
The special defense on this pokemon is what really makes it fun to use however since most special attackers do not one shot Magearna.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 258-306 (70.8 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
trans woman? (Tapu Fini) @ Icium Z
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 20 SpD / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Nature's Madness
- Surf
- Defog
Next up is my fun defog user tapu fini. I decided to run a fun z-haze set instead of the normal leftovers recovery. If you aren't aware, z-haze functions like haze, but heals you back to full so its a trade off. However a cool little thing I noticed about this fini is that you can defog freely against bisharp with z-haze.
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 176+ Def Tapu Fini: 230-270 (67 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Plus 2 iron head doesn't one shot, so you can eliminate hazards and reset the defiant boost. Surf is meant to hit water types hard and nature's madness is for any wall planning on switching in on it. The Sp def isn't too invested but you can live some decent attacks that aren't stab and super effective.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magearna Fleur Cannon vs. 248 HP / 20 SpD Tapu Fini: 274-324 (79.8 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
shiny dog (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 0 Spe
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
A pretty standard defensive wall. Hidden power Ice is for other landorus-t and min speed to get the slow u-turn into an offensive threat. Decent rock setter and earthquake switch-in, after getting rocks up its main goal is to switch into physical threats and get off as much damage as possible before gaining momentum. No need to run calcs, its defensive landorus-t. It lives what you expect it to live and dies to what you expect it to die from.
Male frieza (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
First of 3 win conditions. If there are no more steel and dark types left on your opponents team, click psyshock. Psyshock helps eliminate special walls, especially early on in games so moonblast can clean up later. If there is a dark type left and no steel types, click moonblast. If your opponent is going to switch into lele or mega metagross, click shadow ball. If your opponent is going to switch into ferrothorn, click hidden power fire. Only switch into this set is heatran, so play accordingly. If this pokemon is not your win condition, use it to weaken walls. The timid nature is to help outspeed and knock out every non-scarfed lele switch ins since most if not all lele's are running attack boosting natures.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Lele: 232-274 (82.5 - 97.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 286-338 (95 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Metagross-Mega: 242-286 (80.3 - 95%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 300-356 (85.2 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
God Bug (Pinsir-Mega) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Quick Attack
- Frustration
- Close Combat
Second win condition, Mega Pinsir is a very underrated attacker that got the spotlight it should have gotten with the famous sticky web team. Base 105 is extremely fast, but scarfers will still outspeed. Swords dance is to take advantage of free turns, one of which are defensive landorus-t switch ins before mega evolving.
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Pinsir-Mega Frustration vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 361-426 (94.5 - 111.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Thanks to hyper cutter, landorus-t won't get the intimidate off and frustration can essentially one shot. I run close combat over earthquake as the coverage move to better deal with celesteela's, ferrothorns, and other steel types who don't take much in earthquake damage. Only a few things will prevent this from sweeping teams so you need to be prepared for them. Mamoswine, tapu koko, zapdos, thundurus (both forms) magearna, and metagross will stop this however you would most likely find 2 of these on a team in which case this becomes something that weakens walls for other teams. Make sure to keep rocks off the field, mega pinsir can live a decent amount of neutral physical hits.
Not a shark (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang
Final win condition, scarf Garchomp can really do damage. If Lele and Mega pinsir eliminate flying types, levitaters, and weaken earthquake resistances, this will sweep easily.
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Greninja-Ash: 226-267 (79.2 - 93.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Greninja-Ash Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 255-301 (71.2 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 268-316 (74.8 - 88.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With the loss of pheramosa, garchomp does massive damage to everything now and can live any scarfer that could possibly outspeed it and knock it out. Stone edge is to catch flying types early in the game, dragon claw is for any flying dragon type or if you don't want to miss stone edge against the flying types. Fire fang can catch ferrothorn or celesteela on the switch in. Running fire fang over poison jab since tapu bulu isn't a big threat to the team.
Threats-
Mamoswine- Ice and ground coverage deal with both defensive pivots in magearna and landorus-t. Tapu fini can check it but cannot safetly switch in to mamoswine. Tapu lele also switches in well but usually you need to sack something which isnt preferred.
252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 176+ Def Tapu Fini in Misty Terrain: 164-192 (47.8 - 55.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Tapu Fini Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mamoswine: 278-330 (77 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Celesteela- Strongest fire moves are hidden power fire from lele and fire fang from garchomp. Only electric move is volt switch from magearna. Luckily Celesteela only has leech seed, giga drain, and leftovers as recovery so wearing it down isn't too difficult. Just identify your win condition and use everything else to wear down the celesteela.
Fast flying electric types- Fast flying electric types give this team nightmares. While I would say fast bolt beam could give trouble as well, fast flying electric types can actually switch in on pretty much everything on the team. Keeping stealth rocks up and whittling it down are probably your best bets on dealing with those but Zapdos and Thundurus-Therian can almost be instant losses
Not sure what I would replace to make this team better. I know the triple ice weakness isn't good but somehow this team works pretty well. Z-haze gives fini one reliable recovery turn a game and is a perfect knock off switch-in. Magearna with assault vest lives so many special attacks and you can usually catch defensive landorus-t switch ins with ice beam opening up both mega pinsir and garchomp to sweep.
Replays
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-560115212
Magearna cannot be slept on, and if you keep all 3 win conditions healthy end game can have different pokemon potentially win
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-558918611
Figure out what your win condition is and open up the whole for it. Landorus-T got weakened and Mega Metagross went down allows Mega pinsir and Specs lele to sweep.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-558758340
This is why we run psyshock over psychic. Keeping Tapu Fini in to get damage on Zapdos normally doesn't seem like the correct play, but a weakened zapdos opens the door for a mega pinsir win at the end.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7oususpecttest-557872192
Magearna is a very solid threat even when it is revealed to be a sp def varient. Scarf Garchomp is also a tremendous threat, and timid specs lele can often catch people by surprise.
