[ORAS] Trying to build a vgc16 team

[bradar485]

I need some ideas to fill out what I'm already doing. The groudon from my latest omega ruby playthrough is pretty usable so I'd like to give primal groudon a chance. I was thinking of going with a rock polish mixed attacker like this:

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 92 Atk / 252 SpA / 52 Spe
Mild Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Overheat
- Rock Polish
- Protect


so the hasty,not the best but pretty good for random nature gen XD.
My instinct is to set up my polish and then own with the great type coverage. I'm not sure if maybe I should have a second special attack in place of rock slide. The pro of rock slide is it's great coverage alongside ground and fire, but I don't know if it'd be a waste running a mixed set for just one attack. I like the power that overheat provides though, especially in the sun.

Now next my inner fanboy grabbed ahold of me and said: "Listen to me Brad! You gotta use mewtwo! Use Mewtwo brad! It'll win allllll for you Brad. Make it a meeeeega mewtwo. It'll win all the fights" But then I calmed down and realized that it'd be silly to mega evolve an already powerful character when I can have one of my "common" guys as the mega and add to team diversity a lot more (but inside my heart I really want mewtwo Y...) So originally I had a calm mind set figured out but then I didn't want to mega evolve him and opted for this:


Mewtwo @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psystrike
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Aura Sphere

So it's pretty straightfoward, just the old life orb+ 4 attacks. I haven't decided on the last move yet since it depends on what coverage the rest of the team brings along, but ice beam provides the most coverage along with the other three so it's the most likely that I'll pick. Also I hate how often I miss with focus miss but don't like how much weaker aura sphere is... So I don't know. If I WERE to run Mewtwo Y I would replace the last move with calm mind.

Now. I have to pick my more "mundane" team members. I love running venusaur with char y's sun, so why not try it here? (at least if there's a reason it's a bad idea you should let me know)


Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
- Protect
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder

This is my current venusaur. His ev's are ripped from smogon, mainly because I wanted to max it's special attack and have enough speed to get faster than a lot of common scarf threats in the sun. The rest is in hp to let it soak a couple extra non-super effective hits. It's meant to be a fast, bulky special attacker, I would have used the life orb on it but that's tied up in the mewtwo at the moment. It's last move slot is sleep powder right now mainly for the lol's, but I'm highly open to suggestions there.

Then I wanted something with some interupt power and support ability. Proving I have trouble making teams without:


Weavile (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pickpocket
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Knock Offf

Weavile is beautiful in her simplicity. She interupts and gets rid of pesky items, revenge kills and banks for icicle crash flinches. Plus pick pocketing the item of the pokemon that broke my sash is great revenge.

So I have a bunch of speedy attackers so far and need to figure out a good way to support them or else replace them with better options. I'm really into the mewtwo.... but I could give him up. I've considered running Zekrom as one of my legends for it's ability to kill Kyogre but I don't know... any help is helpful!

[Marcusube]

Fix the format of the builds. They're a bit hard to read especially with them not being fully in the Pokemon Showdown format.

Rock Polish is a good strat on P-Groudon and you'll have a lot of room to set it up. Still need Protect here though. Rock Slide isn't that great this year to be fair. For attacks, Precipice Blades/Earthquake and Eruption/Fire Punch work best here.

I suggest running Mewtwo-Y over the Life Orb variant because of this little bastard



Insomnia helps out a ton in this format in comparison to Pressure and the extra speed is also nice. To be fair, outside of Kangaskhan you really don't need Fighting coverage this year nor do you need Ghost coverage. The Dark types in the format already threaten you with Sucker Punch (so does Kang) so it is a waste to prepare for them by simply running Fighting moves. Mewtwo with Calm Mind, Psystrike, Grass Knot and Protect puts in more offensive pressure.

Venusaur is really bad this year without the Mega especially if the sun isn't up. Would not recommend using this.

Item removal really only helps against Xerneas matchups that don't include a Pokemon that KOs Weavile with ease. Knock Off isn't very good for dealing with this year's threats plus P-Groudon and Mewtwo deal with everything you would need Weavile for.

I have personally taken a liking to Kyurem-W and Zekrom in this meta. Kyurem-W nukes a lot with LO Boosted Draco Meteor, Earth Power and Ice Beam/Flash Cannon. Zekrom on the other hand demolishes threats with Choice Banded Bolt Strike. Something fun I saw was Zekrom + Cloud Nine scarf Golduck, Golduck uses Soak on the opponent then Zekrom finishes them off with Choice Banded/LO/Zap Plate/Expert Belt Bolt Strike.

There isn't really much I can suggest here to be fair. Go for broke and test the waters with Kang and Xerneas on the ladder to become more acquainted with the metagame then the inspiration will flow in due time

[bradar485]

That's really solid advice. So you think that grass is the best coverage on mewtwo? I really wanna runy btw, so I'm thrilled you agree. My worry was that h'd be inferior to having a third buffed guy.

So the weavile.... I love it. The idea of it was pretty much to stall xerneas' inevitable geomancy and knock off is more for utility than damage but considering the type coverage in the Meta I think you're right. But if he goes I really want to replace it with something else disruptive.

I'll correct the post over the weekend, I'm on my tablet right now and it makes posting tedious as it is but it'll get righted. Especially when I'm done brainstorming this.

Oh PS, I just got a good zekrom, I'm glad you suggested it cause I like how it bosses around kyogre and thundurus.

[Marcusube]

To be fair, Psystrike hits everything like a truck in general. Grass Knot is good for clapping the Primals and in my opinion works best because Ice only hits Rayquaza, Mence and Lando, Thunderbolt doesn't do much more than Psystrike to anything, Fire Blast is good for Ferrothorn but that's situational (in terms of P-Kyogre's ability), Focus Blast only hits Kang, yeah you see where I'm going with this.

Liepard and Smeargle (just Liepard) are very good support options this year. They both learn Fake Out and can cripple the opponent with status moves. I personally prefer Liepard for it can Taunt Xerneas before it sets up, Encore other Fake Out users or set up mons into their moves, Thunder Wave the opposing team (good for opposing Tailwind) and provide a strong STAB Foul Play.

Zekrom is really bottom tier this year. I would go for Kyurem-W because it has the ability to outspeed and OHKO P-Groudon, Adamant Kangaskhan, among other Pokemon. Zekrom can't Bolt Strike with Groudon in the back (very risky and hard to predict switches this year) nor can it attack anything that's a Ground type. It's only reliable STAB move is Bolt Strike.