VGC RMT VGC 2016

[Deleted User 330033]

Howdy! So it has been almost 10 YEARS since I've played pokemon competitively, but I am excited to get back into it. I have done quite a bit of digging the past couple months into the current metagame, things that have been popular and effective, and incorporating what I loved about my former rain team into the current format. I greatly appreciate any critiques and suggestions.

Let's GO!!!


Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability:Drizzle
EVs: 188 HP / 68 Atk / 252 SpA
Nature: Quiet
- Origin Pulse
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect

From my understanding, the VGC 2016 meta is either won or lost at the Primal game. So I wanted a primal that could support the rain. Primal Kyogre was a no-brainer. This kyogre is not a faster wall breaker (as shown by the EVs and nature). This Kyogre has 2 primary functions (1) sustain my sweepers that are vunerable to fire (2) harass primal groudon. By having a slower Kyogre, my weather will trump Primal Groudon's if both me and my opponend open with Primals. It has also suprised opponents that set up trick-room. EQ is there to predict a Groudon attempting to hard-switch in as well as Gengar. EQ wont't OHKO, but it will set it up for easy knock-downs from my sweepers I will mention later.



Sceptile @Sceptilite
Ability : Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Spa / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Dragon Pulse
- Leaf Storm
- Protect
- Focus Blast

With Kyogre, I needed a sweeper that could thrive in heavy rain. I origionally used Mega Swampert but swift swim lacked effectiveness when Kyogre wasn't arround. Mega Sceptile gives me that quick heavy damage against other Primal Kyogres, dragons like Mega Salamence, and Its even shown effectiveness against Primal Groudon that aren't at full HP. The key with mega sceptile is that it does not need the rain to function effectivly. Also having a way to protect Kyogre from Thunder is a major bonus. Focus blast gives good wall break on Ferrothorns that try to take advantage of my rain.



Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Spa / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Extreme Speed
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Ascent
- Protect

For my second legendary I want with Rayquaza. It seems very necessary in giving extra support for dealing with the primals. It is also what helps me maintain speed control in some situations. Its priority extreme speed has also helped me clean up MANY weakened mons that probably would have outspead even with the the speed invenstment. He is a great switch in for pokemon on my team that have a tough time dealing with ground and fire attacks. I also have the option to utilize Mega-Rayquaza when sceptile isnt a strong option.



Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Nature: Impish
- Gyro ball
- Power whip
- Thunderwave
- Leech Seed

There is a lot of offense with my core, I needed a tech-mon that could slow down threats to my sweepers and deal with many of thier weaknesses. I have been experimenting with Ferrothorn for a few month and I can see exactly why I have been seeing it. He eats up hits from Xerneas, Mega Kangaskhan, Primal Kyogre, and Mega Salamence. He is also there to set up thunderwave helping my sweepers maintain speed control. It also doesnt hurt losing its fire weakness when Primal Kyogre has the rain set up. Gyro ball and Power whip irritate threats like Xerneas, Kyogre, Mega Mawile, Mega Swampert, and a few other mons that my sweepers struggle with.



Raichu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning rod
EVs: 252 HP / 4Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Fake out
- Encore
- Nuzzle
- Volt Switch (sometimes feint)

Xerneas is BROKEN. For my first few battles against it, my team was not very successful against geomancy Xerneas. I needed a pokemon that could deal with Xerneas. I also needed a pokemon that could handle electic attacks (especially from Thunderus) when using Sceptile was less favorable. Raichu's was exactly what I need to slow Xerneus down. Going for geomancy? Cool, encore locked into it. Turn 1? Fakeout, no geomancy this turn. Its lightning rod had neutralized Thunders and electric moves from other mons, providing a nice shield for Kyogre. Volt switch is there to switch out and allow for multiple Fakeouts and disrupts. Occasionally, I have used anoth Raichu with Feint, but after the addition of my next pokemon, I have found Volt Switch to be more viable. Raichu



Scizor @ Citrus Berry
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252Atk / 4 Spd
Nature: Adament
- Bullet Punch
- Super Power
- Protect
- Feint

To round out my team, I origionally went back and forth between Garchomp and Landorus. But I noticed on Team Magma that I had a HUGE weakness to Fairy Dragon and Ice (x3 for each). So I needed a physical mon that could reduce these threats to my team. Another steel pokemon would acomplish this as well as benefit from the presence of Primal Kyogre. That's where scizor came in. Ice beam no longer made my team cry. Having a feint user to predict protect opens a lot of walls for my sweepers to come in and OHKO a lot of mons. Also having a more physical sweeper helped against a lot of specially defensive tanks I would encounter. Super Power gave that bonus coverage, although I have considered X-Scissor just havn't tested it yet. I would liked to give it a Life orb, but Rayquaza is already utilizing one so I felt this was the next best option.


And there you have it! As i said, I am all for feedback I know the team isn't perfect. Thanks for reading and for all the advice. Peace!!!!!

 

[Bright Size]

Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability:Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Nature: Modest
- Water Spout
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Physical Kyogre is horrible. It doesn't really do much. Ice Beam can still chip at Primal Groudon on switchins. I'm not familiar with the damage calculations but a spread non-STAB move from its Attack probably isn't doing too much to Groudon even if it's super effective. There's also little room to even use it since you'll be hitting yourself forcing you to Protect in most scenarios if you don't want to knock out the rest of your Pokemon which are fairly frail. For simplicity I just made it a basic 252/252/4 spread. You may want to tinker with this spread later, but basic ones like these aren't bad to start off. Water Spout > Origin Pulse because it does more damage (if you're at full health) and is accurate. Since it relies on health, Scald is added as a back up. Scald's helpful in getting around Wide Guard which pops up here and there. With Raichu and Ferrothorn on the team, I don't think you'll need Thunder on this set.

Next I would suggest you replace Mega Sceptile for something that is less frail. The issue with Mega Sceptile is that it will likely only be able to get one attack off before it gets one shot almost immediately. A lot of things could work here like Gengar, Mega Gengar, Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Mawile, etc. I would stay away from Mega Swampert; it relies on the rain being up too much like you noted.

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Overheat/???
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Ascent
- Protect

I put Overheat > Extreme Speed because this team lacks a way to hit various Steel types like Ferrothorn and Mega Mawile reliably. Don't use Timid nature, Dragon Ascent is a powerful move that wants its power. I tabbed "???" on Overheat because you could drop it if you take my suggestion below and add something like Talonflame to the team in order to help deal with Steel types. More information below. If you do that, you could put moves like the Extreme Speed you originally had, Surf, Swords Dance, etc.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Relaxed
IVs: 0 Spe- Gyro Ball
- Power Bhip
- Protect
- Leech Seed

One of the things that makes Ferrothorn amazing is how annoying it is to get rid of. Protect helps you do that. You already have Nuzzle on Raichu so there isn't a high priority to keep Thunder Wave. The EVs work, but you may want to put more investment into Attack. I believe I ran 124 Attack EVs (could be wrong, going by memory) on mine in order to OHKO no bulk Primal Kyogre, though they usually run bulk these days. You want your Speed on Ferrothorn to be as low as possible in order to maximize damage in Gyro Ball. The slower you are than your opponent, the more damage it deals. So that's why it should have a Speed reducing nature and an IV of 0 in Speed.

Raichu @ Zap Plate
Ability: Lightning rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Fake out
- Encore/Feint
- Nuzzle
- Volt Tackle

Does big damage to opposing Primal Kyogre. You could put Thunderbolt/Volt Switch and keep the Sash like you had if you want, but invest SpA > HP because the HP investment isn't very good since it will probably still go down to Focus Sash all the time. I just think Volt Tackle > Thunderbolt/Volt Switch to do more damage to Primal Kyogre. Tabbed Feint on the Encore slot as another option.

For this last slot I would remove Scizor. Its role on the team seems to be too similar to Ferrothorn. I would recommend a Pokemon like Talonflame here to help you out with the type issues you were having. Notably, something in order to hit various Steel type Pokemon which Talonflame can do with Flare Blitz; it also has good support options in Tailwind, Taunt, Quick Guard, etc.

 

[GradeAGarchomp]

hi dragonstigma, you seem to have a fairly basic idea of how rayquaza/kyogre teams work, as you have filled in most of the basic roles these types of teams possess. however, i see a few flaws preventing this team from working to its full potential, mainly double grass-types and the lack of a solid lead versus big 6. this rate will hopefully fix those select issues, as well as make a stronger and overall better team.

the first thing i notice that's a bit questionable is your kyogre. both the spread and earthquake are very strange and honestly sub-optimal. earthquake isn't very good nor successful since it hits your own teammate while also doing quite underwhelming damage to primal groudon due to spread damage. ice beam hits it harder than earthquake, which makes earthquake a general waste of a moveslot. therefore, water spout > earthquake is preferred. not only does this give you a secondary water-stab, it also gives you a way to nuke most pokemon in general, most notably kangaskhan. the attack evs used are now obsolete, so a new spread of 252 hp / 124 def / 76 spa / 4 spdef / 52 speed can be used. a quiet nature isn't needed here, so this is a bulkier spread used with a modest nature. it gets the jump on most primals, missing out on only the few select variants that run a speed boosting nature. this is able to ohko the aforementioned mega kangaskhan with water spout given the special attack investment as well as take a myriad of attacks, including but not limited to, life orb mega rayquaza's dragon ascent, mega salamence's double edge, mega kangaskhan's double edge, choice band landorus-t's earthquake, and mega mawile's play rough. 4 spdef is so that evs aren't wasted in any of its other stats.
here are the calcs for earthquake vs ice beam if you were wondering (using your spread):

68 Atk Primal Kyogre Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Primal Groudon: 56-68 (27 - 32.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ SpA Primal Kyogre Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 60 SpD Primal Groudon: 73-87 (35.2 - 42%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

mega sceptile was also an interesting choice in my eyes. with a ferrothorn as another grass type / target for thunder, this just seems a bit out of place. the easiest replacement here is a sharp beak talonflame. since life orb is on your rayquaza, this is the second best option for an item on talonflame. a set of brave bird / flare blitz / taunt / tailwind is fine here, however, quick guard > taunt is an option due to changes i'll make later on in the team. a spread of max spe / max atk is fine, outpacing the majority of the metagame. flare blitz is important here to break steels so that kyogre and rayquaza have an easier time battling. the other moves are quite self-explanatory, allowing talonflame to provide speed control and a smeargle and xerneas check.

as for rayquaza, all that needs to be changed is the spread. 252 atk / 4 spa / 252 spe with a naive nature is more efficient, as you don't reduce the power of extreme speed or dragon ascent; two moves you'll be using very often. 4 spa draco meteor still hits like a truck, ohkoing and 2hkoing most of its targets, including opposing rayquaza and primal groudon.

mostly the same applies to ferrothorn also. thunder wave is fairly sub-optimal compared protect, and your spread is also quite inefficient for the current metagame. protect > thunder wave is very useful, since it allows for more aggressive plays and scouting, as well as stalling out field effects and overall being a great move in general. thunder wave also lowers the opponent's speed, which is quite counter-intuitive considering you have gyro ball as well. a spread of 252 hp / 196 atk / 60 spdef with a sassy nature is better than your current spread. it allows you to always ohko a +2 xerneas with gyro ball, while also having the ability to better take on kyogre with the added attack. expert belt is also and option if you want to pick up the knock out on kyogre with less chip damage. both are viable and fine options, it's up to you to decide which one fits best.

raichu is fairly fine, although it prefers a set of volt tackle / fake out / nuzzle / feint. encore isn't that amazing considering raichu's frailty and lack of prankster which most other encore users (whimsicott, liepard mainly) possess. volt tackle coupled with a magnet allow you to ohko most kyogre fairly easily, while also hitting most targets for respectable damage. feint breaks protection which is almost invaluable to allow you to remove certain threats to make it easier for rayquaza or any of your other pokemon to clean up. a well timed feint can turn a match into your favor, so dropping it for volt switch is a fairly bad idea. as said before, a magnet > focus sash would be better here to maximize the power of volt tackle and by extension nuzzle. run max attack over max hp with a jolly nature to not weaken the power of its stab attacks.

finally, scizor is quite out of place here with you packing 2 xerneas answers now. thus replacing it with weavile is better. this not only helps versus yveltal which your team has some issues with, it helps against mega rayquaza, mega salamence, smeargle and gravity, all of which are beneficial to you. a set of fake out / icicle crash / knock off / feint is fine here, allowing you to pick up the knock out on the aforementioned threats with icicle crash, as well as help against gravity with a combination of fake out and knock offs. max speed / max attack with a jolly nature is the best spread here, for maximum power and speed. focus sash helps lead well against teams of all archetypes, so it's the preferred item to get a powerful attack off.

Overview:

change moveset and spread on Kyogre
change spread on Rayquaza
change Mega Sceptile to Talonflame
change set and spread on Ferrothorn
change set on Raichu
change Scizor to Weavile

importable

Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Origin Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Rayquaza-Mega @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Protect

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Quick Guard / Taunt

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers / Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Raichu @ Magnet
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake out
- Volt Tackle
- Nuzzle
- Feint

Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Feint

 

[Rcheez]

Hi! You have a really good team, here's my thoughts.

As said by Bright Size, Physical Kyogre sucks. I'd recommend Origin Pulse personally, since I dislike Water Spout unless Scarf, however its a personal option. If you do run it, then get rid of earthquake for Thunder as well. Its good for other Primal Kyogres and multiple other threats. Same EVs as Bright Size.

For rayquaza either run V-Create or Extreme Speed, I can see Extreme Speed being more useful however a Ferrothorn would hate a V-Create,a s well as many other threats. Your choice.

I like Ferrothorn, maybe consider running Toxic/Thunder Wave as well? You don't really need it but Speed control and stall damage always helps.

For Raichu he's pretty good however I think for Xerneas specifically you can run a better Pokemon. Specially Defensive Aegislash is really good and Wide Guard Smeargle always works as well. Not only that Aegislash can OHKO with Iron Head and has a better protect, while Smeargle can become scary with moody. Also Mega Gengar can work well for Perish-Trapping or just demolishing with sludge bomb. Either or. Also for Handling Thundurus A magic Coat can also be put onto Smeargle. I run this
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Void
- Wide Guard
- Spiky Shield
- Magic Coat
Can live a Brave Bird from TFlame, walls Xerneas and Thundurus (Wide Guard and Magic Coat respectively, can bounce back the taunt with Magic Coat then protect and hopefully get some speed from Moody, Wide Guard you do not need to wait for recharge and Prevents damage from moves that hit both of your pokemon for both of them every time). Try it, you'll like it. You do need some offensive presence to work with it but you have Kyogre for that.

I'd suggest using GradeAGarchomp 's thing with Weavile as well, works very well. Or you can run a sableye or another offensive pokemon.

Have fun!