When The Gates Of Hell Are Opened - Master Division VGC2015

Question

Hai and welcome to another Rate My Team. For the people that don't know me: I am Toon_Cerberus or AlphaDraconis on the PS!Servers. I have
been playing VGC since 2013 and together with my buddies Flafpert and
NonePiece we brought this format to the Pokémon Database and with
succes. Now looking at the RMTsection the teams in this format have
grown pretty much.

Some teams that deserves mentioning:
- The Ninja's Strike (NonePiece)
- Back To School; Prepare for Trouble and Make it Double (Redux) (Brotad)
- Pokémon AF: Gale of Darkness (Flafpert)
- Slowly the Snowstorm is Coming ( ChinaG)
- Demon's Demolishing Six: The Army of Hell (Myself)

Thank you guys for this amazing experience in VGC so far and believe me, some of us will meet up on Worlds one day

Teambuilding:

First of all I wanted something to shut down that annoying Mega Kangaskhan and Rotom-Wash so after looking at the Pokédex Breloom and Virizion caught my eye. I ended up with Virizion since Breloom was too slow in my opinion.

With Mega Kangaskhan and Rotom-Wash being countered by Virizion I could add my beloved Rotom- Heat again.

+

With Rotom on the team I needed someone that could tank Water and Rock attacks and give pressure on the enemy's team due speed control. So I looked up some old VGC 2013 & 2014
reports and choose Milotic to complete my Fire Water Grass core.

+ +

With Virizion being weak to Fairy I wanted something to kill Fairies. After some digging in my own teams first my Scizor took this spot but got replaced with Bisharp in the process due 2 things:
- Defiant.
- Pressure on the opponent due his Dark typing against Mega Metagross.

+ ++

After this I needed something to switch in on the Fighting and Ground attacks aimed at Bisharp so Latios joined his companions in Hell.

+ ++ +

With those 5 I needed some Intimidate support and preferably a slow Pokémon so my Choice Specs Gardevoir wasn't an option anymore. And I refused to be a bait for Mold Breaker Excadrill with Mega Mawile on my team. So only one Fairy Intimidate Pokémon was left: Granbull

+ ++ ++

In depth sets and spreads:

Maalik (Virizion) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Protect

Pretty straight forward spread and set. Max Attack and Speed to outspeed Timid Pyroar by 3 points. Leaf Blade and Close Combat as STAB. Life Orb to maximize damage since Choice Band would lock me in one move. Although not running Choice Band I still OHKO 252HP/44Def Rotom W 7/16 times. Stone Edge was her for coverage since I didn't wanna run Hidden Power [Ice] and go mixed.

Ridwan (Rotom-Heat) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 4 SpA / 116 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

My standard Rotom-H, ripped out of one of my old teams and still functions. Take Stone Edge from Terrakion and Hydro Pump from 12 SAtk Rotom-Wash. Leftovers as item since Sitrus was already taken by my next member:

Basilisk (Milotic) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 236 HP / 140 Def / 132 SpA
Modest Nature
- Icy Wind
- Scald
- Mirror Coat
- Protect

Standard VGC2014 Milotic. Lives Mega Venusaur his Giga Drain and OHKOes back with Mirror Coat. When Intimidated or being one stat lowered it immediately backfires on them thanks to Competitive. Scald for burns and Icy Wind for speed control.

Hel (Bisharp) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Protect

Sashed to live two turns at least. Three with Protect. Sucker Punch for priority and STAB. Knock Off to get rid of those annoying berries and Assault Vests and many more things. Iron Head as second STAB.

Valkyrjar (Latios) @ Latiosite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 28 HP / 28 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Yes, Mega Latios. I lacked a Mega Evolution so when looking at my team I thought why not. 28HP/28 Def allows him to live a 252 Atk Dragon Claw from Garchomp and OHKOes back in return with Ice Beam or Draco Meteor. Psyshock as second STAB and to punish Fighting types aiming at Bisharp.

Garmr (Granbull) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 180 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 84 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Play Rough
- Crunch
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

Assault Vest to be the tankiest thing alive. Takes Iron Head from Mega Mawile and a Flash Cannon from Aegislash Blade. Also lives 196 SAtk Flash Cannon from Mega Lucario 10/16 times. Play Rough as STAB, Crunch to deal with Ghosts and Psychics. Close Combat and Stone Edge to round the coverage.

Comments

Are you going to worlds?

---

You don't have any solid answers to Sylveon, other than Bisharp and even he does not want to take a Specs Hyper Voice

---

However I really do like Mega-Latios

---

Imo his Sylveon matchup isn't terrible since it gets outsped and hit hard neutrally by most of his team, plus bulky Rotom-H takes Hyper Voices like a champ. A plausible strategy would be to bait a Hyper Voice with Latios + Milotic. Protect Latios from the obvious Hyper Voice, then have Milotic use Mirror Coat to heavily damage Sylveon.

TL;DR I don't see Sylveon being a massive issue for this team.

---

Okay I guess that makes sense, also what about trick room. You don't have any taunters or really slow Pokemon

---

Rotom won't be THAT poorly off in TR. Bisharp and another Pokémon can double into Cresselia and Jellicent. Granbull is slow as hell.

---

Dang AD, I thought you were joking about the RMT :x
But in case anyone needed those, there are some replays of how-this-team-works on my wall.

PS - AD doesn't like his TR match-ups either, but I was too scrubby to exploit that
/me fleez

---

Instead of 0IVs on Granbull in speed, give it one IV. This will allow you to give the 4 speed EVs else where

---

@ Unstoppable

No Worlds for me.
When it comes to Sylveon and TR. Bisharp and Granbull are my way to go. Also I can just stall it out 9/10 times.

---

Okay, how do you fair aganist Mega-Gardevoir teams, or Tailwind/Speed Control based teams.

---

Also just a suggestion you should run Luster Purge over Psyshock, after one Special Defense drop, it is better, plus that can be huge aganist bulky Pokemon that you don't have a super effective attack aganist, examples being bulky waters, most forms of Rotom, and assault vested Pokes

---

Okay so I am going to do an answer on this if you don't mind. I might replace Rotom-Heat, maybe but other than that leave the others alone, I might also change move sets or EVs slightly

---

Ooooh a Mega Latios :O
Ooooh an AV Bull :O
Ooooh a... wait nvm it's AD's team. xD

Nice team as usual c:
You could say TR is the only problem here, but tbh stuff that outspeed Virizion could also be a hassle right?

---

Still Unstoppable, I stay with my opinion and let it be as it is this way. I have been running a lot of Bulky Offense teams and all with great results. Versus Mega Voir I have Milotic with her Mirror Coat. Tailwind and Speed control are still Milotic s answer to counter them.

---

What made you choose Latios over Salamence? It does the same job, as well as having a hard-hitting mixed or Dragon Dance set with Aerilate Double-Edge and Hyper Voice.

You also have some troubles with Amoonguss.

196 SpA Mega Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 140+ Def Amoonguss: 158-188 (71.4 - 85%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 132+ SpA Milotic Icy Wind vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Amoonguss: 92-110 (41.6 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Amoonguss: 186-218 (84.1 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

It survives every SE attack you can throw at it. It basically forces you to either double into it, or let it cripple something with Spore. Virizion, while immune to Rage Powder, still struggles to damage Amoonguss. An Amoonguss + Gardevoir would tear this team apart. Protect + Spore if you lead with Bisharp or Rotom. Rage Powder + Hyper Voice if you lead anything else. And before you suggest Mirror Coat onto a Giga Drain, it is just as likely to Spore as it is to attack.

Unless you have an answer that I haven't thought of, there are a few things you could do to prevent Death by Spore:

- Remove some bulk from Latios and invest just a bit more in SpA. Seriously, if you're playing Garchomp, you're playing too far down the ladder. Just a bit more investment can KO most Amoonguss. Psychic also has a higher chance of OHKOing most Amoonguss than Psyshock because they usually invest in Defense to survive Kangaskhan.

- Change Latios to Salamence.

- Remove a bit of bulk from Rotom to let you OHKO with Overheat. The combination of Terrakion dropping in usage and the fact that very few carry Stone Edge over Rock Slide can justify this.

- Safety Goggles on Rotom will serve you better than Lefties, since it prevents Spore from Breloom (who outspeeds) and lets you shoot right through Rage Powder.

EDIT: This spread does the same thing yours does, as well as OHKO Amoonguss.

252 HP / 116 Def / 124 SpA / 4 SpD / 12 Spe (Modest Nature)

124+ SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Amoonguss: 224-266 (101.3 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Terrakion Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Rotom-H: 84-98 (53.5 - 62.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Landorus-T Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Rotom-H: 66-78 (42 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
60 SpA Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-H: 132-156 (84 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

---

That I live Rock Slides I am aware of. Stone Edge is still a pain. Mega Voir and Amoonguss are rarely around.

---

Alright then. Whatever floats your boat. But why Latios over Salamence, the more common pick? Not trying to say "Use Mence because it's more common", I'm genuinely curious.

---

Really? I see Mega Voir and Amoonguss like every other team. Where are you in the latter? Yeah lefties is a useless, I would consider Safety googles or Rocky Helmet for Rotom-Heat instead

---

@ Grime

Look at Latios his typing and Virizion his ability. Latios, Virizion and Bisharp are a core. Latios takes ever Fighting attack, Bisharp takes the Psychic and Poison attacks and Virizion gets the Dark attacks which even makes him stronger.

---

Your Latios should outspeed Garchomp with the Timid nature, rendering your damage calc nearly irrelevant.