It's clearly been too long since I delved back into the OU tier, as I've mostly been dedicating my time to VGC and even some UU lately. But as the 2014 season is coming to a close and only a few premiere challenges are left in my area, I decided to check back into the post-Salamenceite OU tier with probably my next favorite ORAS Mega Evolution after Metagross, Diancie.
After a long night of studying for a final I decided to cool off by doing some laddering with the team, here is my current rank and Elo as I post this as well as my peak with the team. GXE lookin a little shaky but for a new team I'll take it (but that's why I'm here, to improve it).
Madoka Kaname (Diancie) @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Rash Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Rock Polish
- Earth Power
First, The Beast herself.
Rock Polish Diancie.
This is pretty much the only RP Diancie set that enables you to get the most value out of Diancie as possible since it can wreck offense and defense alike thanks to it's combination of stats, movepool, and ability. This spread ensures you'll outspeed Jolly Excadrill in sand after a Polish and un-boosted you'll be able to outspeed neutral base 100's after Mega Evolving.
I experimented with a bulkier spread that only outspeeds Adamant Rush Excadrill (arguably the more common variant) but found that it was simply too slow to really do anything unboosted and it was extremely hard to Mega Evolve on much of anything. A Rash nature lets me better check Charizard X and Talonflame while still making Moonblast as powerful as possible. Diancie is also my primary switch in to Knock Off from most things bar Bisharp. Diamond Storm doesn't really need investment to hit what it needs to hit and the extra HP is always appreciated to back up Diancie's decent defenses.
Kyoko Sakura (Bisharp) @ Blackglasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
Amazing partner for Diancie and the team overall, it knocks off Shed Shells for Gothitelle to take advantage of, Pursuit traps Chansey, kills Clefable and other fairies annoying to the team, weakens Azumarill, does well 1v1 against Landorus-T thanks to Defiant, and discourages Defog since Diancie really needs hazards to work well. Sucker Punch also makes it my primary form of revenge killing/sweeping.
Went with BlackGlasses over Life Orb just so I wouldnt take too much recoil Knocking Off stuff like Ferrothorn and Rocky Helmet Skarmory and to avoid killing myself from recoil in the middle of a late game clean-up. It may seem like theres not much point to investing in HP on Bisharp, but the HP EVs allow me to always survive Earthquake from Jolly Metagross, easing the Pursuit-Sucker Punch mind game somewhat while still outpacing 44 Spe Rotom-W. 216 SAtk Greninja will also only have a 31.3% chance of knocking me out with Hydro Pump from full, so if I do have to risk it against that monster the odds of winning are in my favor.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Wanted a Rapid Spinner over a Defogger just for the sake of keeping my own hazards at all costs. Excadrill stacked a Water weakness, Fighting weakness, and a Ground weakness and on top of that isn't ver fast so I went with Starmie, standard stuff, went with Tbolt over Psyshock just because I do have Gothitelle for Venusaur and Chansey and TBolt hits stuff like Rotom-W, Azumarill, and Slowbro that think they're safe. Overall pretty solid addition, can beat Greninja if it lacks Dark Pulse, though more are starting to run it again.
Mami Tomoe (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Standard.gif.meme, formerly Sayaka Miki the Garchomp but Landorus-T is just so much better for the team and in general.
Seriously though what team does Landorus-T NOT fit on? (bar stall lel)
But yeah basically this thing is one of my possible switch ins in to other Landorus-T, which is why I run absolute max Speed to possibly outspeed other Scarf Lando-T and Knock Off their Scarf before they can U-turn away so I can later revenge kill them with Starmie.
An additional switch in to other Landorus definitely took some pressure off of Ferrothorn and it also provides me with an additional late game win condition which is also pretty nice, and it can actually check stuff like Thundurus and Greninja nicely thanks to the Choice Scarf, with Garchomp I often found myself really lacking in the Speed department despite having a Starmie on the team, plus I seldom miss the Dragon STAB. Having a nice pivot into Gothitelle was also really beneficial and having an additional Knock Off on the team as well as another check to Tyranitar, CharX, Bird Spam, and VoltTurn really lets Gothitelle shine on this team.
Homura Akemi (Gothitelle) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Energy Ball
- Trick
The crux of the team along with Diancie, this basically helps me trap and eliminate or cripple annoying threats to the team including but not limited to, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, normal Scizor, Chansey, Conkeldurr, Venusaur, Tentacruel, Suicune, Politoed, Swampert, Hippowdon, Rotom-W, the list goes on. Big help versus stall and rain. Pretty bulky too so it doesnt mind going 1v1 with stuff like Thundurus and Keldeo if it's kept healthy. Overall a savage mon.
I originally started this team with the concept of Diancie + Magnezone, but the two share such awful synergy even for an offensive team that I decided it wasn't worth it when Gothitelle is just as legitimate of an option. Plus, Magnezone fails to trap and/or beat a myriad of Pokemon Diancie struggles with that are not Steel types.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
My all important Stealth Rocks setter (the key to Diancie's success), and my all in one check to important metagame threats including Greninja, Rotom-W, Slowbro, Azumarill, Landorus-T, Excadrill, Latios, Greninja, Thundurus, Gyarados, all huge threats to the team. Protect is essential to scout coverage moves and Leech Seed to punish switches. Gyro Ball gives better coverage overall than Power Whip and Leech Seed+Protect will allow me to beat most bulky water types anyway, plus it doesn't miss.
Didn't bother with Shed Shell just because I'm not afraid of stuff usually paired with Magnezone as most of them lose to Diancie and I really need the Leftovers to take on both Greninja and Landorus-T effectively. I really wish I could run more defense for opposing Landorus-T and Scizor but Greninja is just too big of a threat at the same time. Probably the most important team player on the squad.
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Clearly, this isn't a perfect team by any means but it's a cool concept I developed from another team I made starting with Magnezone and Diancie, comments and advice are greatly appreciated, but I feel the need to set a few guidelines on an ideal rate and what I want to see (and don't want to see) from possible additions to the team.
Suggestions I Want To See:
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- Another way to deal with Scizor would be pretty ok, Garchomp is a nice lure but aside from that my options for reliably checking it are limited.
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-Have any simple moveset or EV suggestions? Have at it.
- Are there any kind of further measures I can take to ease the Diancie sweep (the goal of the team)?
Suggestions I DON'T want to see:
- Defog > Rapid Spin. You better have some damn good reasoning otherwise I'm going to fight you pretty hard on this one, Diancie needs hazards to sweep with Rock Polish, Defog is really just not optimal for supporting something that relies on unboosted power to sweep.
- Use a different Mega. :s this one should be a no brainer honestly.
- If you just replace 5/6 mons on your team with A, B, C, D, and E, you'll have no problems with the threats you mentioned! Please remember that this is in fact an offensive team, the goal is not to counter every offensive threat but to be able to check the ones that specifically threaten the goal of the team (so things that specifically stop Diancie, hazard control mons, and S rank threats). And suggesting to replace more than 3 mons by itself just isnt a very optimal rate, it's more like making an entirely new team.
- Magnezone. I've tried it, in fact it looks pretty swell on paper, but in fact it blows on this team.
Thank you for looking at the team!
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