Rate my Gen 8 AG Team

Question

This is my Gen 8 AG team, I've used this team on the Showdown! ladder, and peaked with it.

Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Wild Charge
- Close Combat
- Play Rough

It's a Zacian, not much more to be said.
A great wallbreaker in general, checking SpD Yveltal and unboosted Xerneas.

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Iron Head
- Morning Sun

My lead (sometimes), and my physical "wall", a great check to zacian, being able to cripple it with Thunder Wave, and just spreading paralysis in general, having incredible longevity with Morning Sun. And more flexible than quagsire.

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 4 Atk / 184 SpA / 68 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Heat Wave
- Sucker Punch

A lot of people expecting Defensive Yveltal, so this is a nice surprise, SpD EVs are to always live 2 Timid Specs Astral Barrage from Calyrex-S (dunno if it's necessary, please tell me). Heat Wave is useful for unsuspecting Zacian on the switch and Max Flare OHKOes.

Kyogre @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Origin Pulse
- Water Spout
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

Wallbreaker, hits like a plane and a bit, 0 Atk IVs for foul play (same for all other 0 Atk IVs). Water Spout hits everything neutral for a ton, checks Defensive Yveltal (maybe SpD too, haven't calculated it).

Calyrex-Shadow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: As One (Spectrier)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Astral Barrage
- Psyshock
- Trick
- Aromatherapy

Once again, just a wallbreaker, however unlike Kyogre, this is meant to be a late game cleaner outspeeding everything and just finishing the game, obviously outspeeds Specs Calyrex-S and SubSeed Calyrex-S, somewhat beats Zacian-c, trick to trick scarf onto anything stall (that's not a Yveltal).

Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Transform

Ditto, mostly for intimidation, yes literately, but if someone does really wanna setup a Xerneas or SD Zacian-C I'll gladly sack something and get this in.

Only after writing this I realised I had 3 Scarfs, any advice would be appreciated, thank you!
I think i may need some balance mons, for example... uhh idk. Marshadow?
Teambuilding was never my strong point, I'm just wondering what my team is missing.

Comments

You're much better off with Life Orb + Nasty Plot Calyrex-Shadow on these type of builds, and three Scarfers are counterproductive. Bulky Offence with Necrozma-DM + offensive Yveltal are iffy without Offensive Eternatus, which can check Kyogre in a pinch and can maintain enough offensive pressure on common Defog users (Ho-Oh, Yveltal, Xerneas). The bulk EVs on Yveltal aren't necessary; you'll be running Sucker Punch on it usually anyways. Thunder Wave + Iron Head on Necrozma-DM is fun but, if you drop Calyrex's Scarf, you're making the Zekrom matchup pretty bad, so Earthquake > Thunder Wave and Sunsteel Strike > Iron Head is another option.

Answer 1

• 3 Choice Scarfers is not always a good idea. The thing that disappoints me about this team is the lack of immediate power,, which could be achieved by running Choice Specs on Kyogre on Calyrex-Shadow.
• While so much speed control + Play Rough Zacian-C seems good enough for Zekrom, it really isn't, as non Earthquake Necrozma-DM can not hurt it, plus nothing else on the team can come on a switch-in to Zekrom. This could be remedied by running a standard Earthquake set with Sunsteel Strike > Iron Head as you can't fit thuhnder Wave.
• Lack of Defog, and the fact Ferrothorn can come without minding much on half of the team is saddening. Getting Stealth Rock up also means Yveltal can't come on opposing Calyrex-S many times. There's no reason to use offensive Yveltal in a balance without a secondary Calyrex-S check (eg. Ho-Oh, or Blissey even).
• One of the downsides of Triple Scarf is that you're never getting past bulky teams easily. Choice Scarf Kyogre is not a great wallbreaker.

---

Removing one of the sweepers for Eternatus is the first step. Opposing Kyogre and Marshadow are really annoying, in fact the 2nd one has no real switch-ins (Yveltal doesn't have longevity, Zac-C can only revenge kill). Hence, it's wise to add Eternatus which is one of the big three of Galar. Eternatus also soaks Ferrothorn's Leech Seed and threatens it with Flamethrower.

Eternatus @ Black Sludge / Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon / Dragon Tail
- Flamethrower
- Toxic / Light Screen / Toxic Spikes
- Recover

Keeping Kyogre, Yveltal, Ferrothorn, Ho-Oh, Marshadow, etc. in check at once is really cool. The move options are generally for whether you want to immediately Toxic Defoggers like Yveltal / Ho-Oh while Light Screen wins VS almost any CM Kyogre set.

Making Yveltal defensive. Offensive Yveltal is really hard to fit without Defog support and another soft-check for Calyrex-S. Stealth Rock and Spikes can give you a really hard time if you don't Defog. Hence, having utility Yveltal is important and it's common in balance teams without Ho-Oh.

Yveltal @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 88 HP / 168 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Defog
- Roost

Fast Yveltal with Foul Play can also threaten Groudon, while Taunt can still act like a sweeper. Defog on Yveltal is good as you can threaten Necrozma DM or Taunt Ferrothorn when it tries to set-up Spikes.

Adding Earthquake to Necrozma-DM's set. As mentioned above, Zekrom is probably the scariest Pokemon for you to face. Earthquake Necrozma-DM can easily take that pressure out by not letting Zekrom get Dragon Dance more than once on the switch-in. You can still keep Iron Head over Sunsteel Strike for the PP though.

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head / Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Morning Sun

Assurance on Zacian-C instead of Play Rough and adding either Choice Specs Kyogre, or Calyrex-Shadow

Assurance on Zacian-C is a good move, as with Stealth Rock up on the switch-in you 2HKO Necrozma-DM, which is its most often used switch-in. Also, like I said the lack of immediate firepower is what the team's weak at. In my opinion, Choice Specs Kyogre, or even Life Orb Calyrex-S can do a ton of damage and are good partners with Zacian-C.

Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Wild Charge
- Close Combat
- Assurance

OR

Kyogre version
Calyrex-S version

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions regarding the final team.

Comments

Hello! Tysm for answering, after hearing what you said im honestly surprised i got so far

This is what i understood from your answer
So to sum up what you said:

Too many choice scarfers, no immediate pressure -
Switch scarf ogre to specs

No zecrom counter -
Add earthquake on nec-dm

After ^, Play rough is unessascary on zacian -
Give it assurance to hit dm and maybe quag hard on the switch with rocks.

Offensive Yveltal is niche and uncommon, not a great check to caly-s and gets chipped easily -
Replace it with defensive yveltal with boots and defog.

Replace something with eturnatus.

Can i sum it up this way?

I also do have a few things im wondering about.

Whats my best answer to stall with this team? ( stuff like quagsire HOLY I HATE THIS THING )
Whats my best answer to zygarde-c with this team?
After making the above changes, what should i replace for eturn? if at all?

Thank you!

---

* Quagsire isn't hit hard with Assurance, it's solely for Necrozma-DM. Quagsire is also relatively rarer than Necrozma, so you shouldn't be worrying about it much.
* Offensive Yveltal isn't niche and uncommon, they just replaced it with specially defensive to repair the off matchup vs. Calyrex-Shadow and opposing offensive Yveltal. You can also do offensive Yveltal + offensive Eternatus, keeping the Bulky Offence structure of the initial team, but that's upon you.
* Calyrex-Shadow and Choice Specs Kyogre are good stallbreakers, which, when paired with Zacian-Crowned, are winning eventually (against Quagsire + Blissey builds). If you feel Stall is giving you immediate issues, SubSeed Calyrex-Shadow is one of the best stallbreakers in the current metagame, but with CalyZac you're usually winning vs. stall.
* Yveltal + Ditto and/or Kyogre. You're losing to Zygarde-C longterm without having a solid answer (Lunala, Landorus-Therian, Ferrothorn), as Kyogre is worn down extremely quickly with Thousand Arrows (and Dragon Tail) + hazards, and Yveltal is being strained to check other Pokémon, but it *can* check Zygarde and Groudon in a pinch with Foul Play.
* Check the Pokepastes, Eternatus isn't replaced, its set is changed to a defensive variant.

---

Yep, pretty much what Cristal Myabach said. I think vs Zygarde-C you have to take control of the game better, don't give it opportunities to Dragon Dance by outpressuring with Kyogre/Calyrex-S. Landorus-T and Ferrothorn still lose to Sub Dtail or other variants imo, but as long as you play more offensive you're fine.

Stall isn't always existent, but VS them you're gonna try to get Stealth Rock up by forcing Giratina to Rest. After that, Kyogre can 2HKO Chansey with Stealth Rock up, so that's pretty nice. Calyrex-S can also take control fairly easily if you chip Tyranitar slightly even. Also, I meant Offensive Yveltal shouldn't be used without a secondary Calyrex-S switch-in, it's not really uncommon or niche.