[RATE MY TEAM] Japan Sand Variant

[MegaGallade475]

(Aug 29, 2015, 10:08 AM)Marcusube Wrote: Realistically speaking, Metagross can't really deal with Landorus and Salamence with Ice Punch.

-1 252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Ice Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Salamence: 136-160 (79.5 - 93.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Ice Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 180-216 (109 - 130.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO BUT 252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Metagross: 108-128 (69.6 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Now these are just basic damage calculations between 2 Pokemon. Take into consideration the other opposing Pokemon. Even though you score the KO, Metagross will most likely be either severely injured or knocked out. Ice Punch can work, I'm just stating the drawbacks to running it. Also, this Metagross set is very open to status conditions and other ailments. Though that doesn't seem as much of a problem, your team doesn't have much to deal with common status users such as Sableye, Thundurus, Suicune(Scald/Icy Wind/Snarl), Milotic(same as Suicune), Amoonguss, etc. For a team like this one that is more offensive, I would take out Ice Punch for Substitute. Reason being, Substitute makes Metagross immune to status, stat drops and allows it to evade a hit in the instance where you cannot Protect.

"With Volcarona's massive bulk..." What!?  kappa

85/65/105 bulk is nice on the special side, not so much the physical side.

This Volcarona set is pretty slow. That said, things like Rock Slide, Brave Bird, or pretty much any overwhelming physical attack from a fast mon drives this thing on its knees. The set would of been okay if there was enough synergy on your team to support it. Dumping all those EVs just to survive Lando's Rock Slide just made this set ineffective. Instead of a reactive solution such as this one, be more proactive with your approach and put a Pokemon on this team that can check/counter Lando.

With that said, here is a build I would recommend.

Volcarona @ Lum Berry/Charti Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 116 HP / 52 Def / 124 SpA / 100 SpD / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def(if running HP Ice
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz/Hidden Power Ice/Giga Drain
- Tailwind
- Rage Powder

Pretty simple Tailwind set. I choose Tailwind here for a simple reason. When you set it up, all that Metagross couldn't outspeed, it now can. Overheat is a good move offensively but once your special attack gets cut, you either sack off Volcarona or switch. Either way, it puts you at risk. Fiery Dance is a pretty stable offensive option as it not only does damage but it increases your special attack stat by one stage, 50% of the time. The increase in special attack allows you to pull of the following milestones

+1 124+ SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 152-180 (91 - 107.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
+1 124+ SpA Volcarona Bug Buzz vs. 220 HP / 92+ SpD Cresselia: 162-192 (72.6 - 86%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 124+ SpA Volcarona Giga Drain vs. 236 HP / 12 SpD Milotic: 110-130 (55 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

These damage outputs are insane seeing as how these mons have a massive amount of defenses. Its up to you to choose between Bug Buzz, HP Ice or Giga Drain seeing as how all three perform well. Rage Powder is obviously to lure away attacks.

100 SpA Milotic Scald vs. 116 HP / 100 SpD Volcarona: 86-104 (49.1 - 59.4%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Aerilate Mega Salamence Hyper Voice vs. 116 HP / 100 SpD Volcarona: 122-146 (69.7 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Terrakion Rock Slide vs. 116 HP / 52 Def Charti Berry Volcarona: 122-146 (69.7 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Tyranitar doesn't help your team at all. It resists Dark but cannot counter them (Bisharp OHKOs with Iron Head, any other mon with a Dark attack most likely possesses Earth Power or a Fighting attack), and Aegislash craps on Tyranitar. It eats up a Crunch then retaliates with Life Orb boosted or WP boosted Flash Cannon. The role you want Tyranitar to do only allows it to take out Gengar with this set and that's if Gengar doesn't carry Will-o-Wisp.

"I thought Salamence was a good choice for the fourth slot, because it resists water....", Water types carry Ice moves. Even Rotom-W these days carry Hidden Power Ice.

Anyways, at this point, the team you have gets walled by Heatran and water types. You already have a Mega Evolution and the reason to use Salamence on this team is to shield the core right? If your core has a mega, how can you shield your Mega with another Mega? Also this team doesn't support Salamence that well, and I'm not wondering this, I'm saying this. Japanese Sand is a 3 core team consisting of Tyranitar, Sand Rush Excadrill and a mega evolution that is most times Salamence because of its immunity to ground and its ability to handle Grass and Fighting types who threaten the other two mons. Sand harms this team more than it helps it. Just scrap it.

"It can get a lot of KOs with Choice Specs, and survive most powerful attacks with this EV spread. I chose Sludge Bomb to counter fairies (cough cough.. Sylveon), Ice Beam for Salamence and Landorus, Earth Power for (once again) Steel types, and HP Grass for bulky waters."

Nidoqueen has been used successfully in VGC so I'm not saying anything about it not being viable. The problem is the item choice and set choice. Specs Nidoqueen means that you can't Protect yourself from attacks. Combined with its awful speed tier, this makes it an easy double target. The KOs it picks up are significant but the amount of things that can outpace and KO it really puts that dream to death. Nidoqueen needs the presence of speed control to maximize its potential.

Not much to say about Conkeldurr. Not having protect is dangerous especially with all the Hyper Voice, Double Edge, Psychic and other powerful attacks out there but eh, whatever.

http://pastebin.com/A4fvvV1L

This is a team I made around Metagross and Volcarona. Suicune is to support the team with Tailwind, take out mons with Ice Beam and Scald and drop the Special Attack of the opposing Pokemon with Snarl. Sylveon is to apply more offensive pressure as well as giving you more answers to dragons, dark types and fighting types. Thundurus is to beat bulky water types and Conkeldurr to give you priority, immunity to other status with Flame Orb and an offensive option against common threats in the meta.

Thank you, this was very helpful. I have made many changes to the team thanks to these suggestions.