Dec 24, 2015, 04:46 PM
First of all, the previous comments did not address the issue correctly here. He is playing Battle Spot Doubles NOT VGC 16. Battle Spot Doubles still uses the VGC 15 ruleset and will continue to do so until January which is why you haven't seen any YouTubers making VGC 16 videos on Battle Spot.
Now talking from a VGC 15 standpoint, this team is pretty much what it is, an upstart team. In a metagame plagued with CHALK, Japan Sand, Mega Salamence and Trick Room Gardevoir teams, Mega Absol really has no place here as all the popular teams demolish Mega Absol.
Icy Wind on Absol isn't logical. The move itself is to be used on bulky support Pokemon. The idea is to shield your main attacker then use your supporter to slow down the opponent so your attacker outspeeds the following turn. You'd be better off using Ice Beam to hit M-Salamence, Landorus-T, Thundurus, Amoonguss etc. Shock Wave isn't a viable competitive move. Evasion is rarely used plus most Pokemon who use Evasion moves have recovery options and Shock Wave does so little it doesn't even make a difference. Fire Blast has negligible accuracy plus it doesn't hit much outside of Ferrothorn and Scizor; the latter threatens M-Absol with a priority Bullet Punch which deals enough damage to KO at a certain range.
Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty / Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Beam / Play Rough
- Protect
Here is a sample set of how VGC Absol should be ran. Sucker Punch for priority, Knock Off is it's strongest STAB move plus it removes items, Ice Beam for what I mentioned earlier or you can run Play Rough for Hydreigon, Terrakion, Virizion, and all the other mons weak to this attack. 12 SpA EVs allows you to OHKO Mega Salamence 100% of the time with Ice Beam. Obviously if you're not running Ice Beam, go 252 Attack and Speed with a Jolly Nature.
Change Extreme Speed for Bullet Punch on Lucario so you can hit Fairies like Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon before they can even attack. Take off Rock Slide and run either Crunch, Ice Punch or Stone Edge. NEVER rely on flinches for strategy. It is an idiotic mindset for playing Pokemon. Crunch hits Aegislash, however, if you have Absol alive you may see this as redundant, Ice Punch hits Flying types for super effective outside of Gyarados, Talonflame and Charizard-Y and Stone Edge hits all Flying types but does significantly more damage than Rock Slide.
Stealth Rocks ain't for Doubles friend. Keep that move for the singles metagame. You can run Rock Slide on Garchomp instead or Iron Head if Fairies are giving you issues.
Scrap Blizzard for either Ice Beam or Snarl on Suicune. Blizzard's accuracy is horrid. Also, use a different spread. 252/252 defensive mons don't work as well as if you were to spread the EVs out a bit more. To make good EV spreads, you need to research the meta and find what threatens Suicune so you can EV it to survive attacks. And why do you have 0 IVs in Defense?
AV Sylveon is just bad. Never leave this thing out in the open for Pokemon such as Bisharp, Scizor, Escavalier, Kangaskhan, Salamence, Terrakion, Garchomp (this list goes on) that pressure it with an OHKOing move. Make Sylveon's EV spread more diverse and change the item to either Pixie Plate, Choice Specs, Life Orb or Babiri Berry. You don't need Psyshock or Shadow Ball either. Hyper Voice and Hidden Power Ground gives you neutral hits against every Pokemon barring Skarmory and Bronzong who are never used in Doubles.
Change Arcanine's moveset. Flare Blitz breaks your Focus Sash, Close Combat isn't necessary because the other mons on your team hit what it needs to hit, Extreme Speed can stay, so can Morning Sun. Special Arcanine with Flamethrower/Fire Blast (if you're okay with missing a lot) and Snarl can put a lot of pressure on the opponent. I pick Snarl because it allows Arcanine to survive hits like Rotom-W Hydro Pump, Heatran's Earth Power etc. and its a good spread move. Safety Goggles, Rocky Helmet, Sitrus Berry or Leftovers works great on Arcanine. Helping Hand is also an option to boost Absol's damage output as well as Sylveon's, Lucario's and Garchomp's.
Just know from now that Garchomp isn't going to be able to freely Earthquake without damaging an ally, not having Pokemon with Levitate or Flying type makes it easy for the opponent to Earthquake the crap out of your team, not having any form of coverage against water types is bad as they can cripple your team and eat up hits for days, Thunder Wave murders your team and so does Thundurus-Incarnate, yeah. This team has a good amount of flaws.
My advice is to test the team on Battle Spot, get a feel of the competitive metagame (unless you fall to below 1500 where the bad players are) and by your own judgement, make adjustments the way you see fit to your battle style if the advice here doesn't help you
Good luck man!
Now talking from a VGC 15 standpoint, this team is pretty much what it is, an upstart team. In a metagame plagued with CHALK, Japan Sand, Mega Salamence and Trick Room Gardevoir teams, Mega Absol really has no place here as all the popular teams demolish Mega Absol.
Icy Wind on Absol isn't logical. The move itself is to be used on bulky support Pokemon. The idea is to shield your main attacker then use your supporter to slow down the opponent so your attacker outspeeds the following turn. You'd be better off using Ice Beam to hit M-Salamence, Landorus-T, Thundurus, Amoonguss etc. Shock Wave isn't a viable competitive move. Evasion is rarely used plus most Pokemon who use Evasion moves have recovery options and Shock Wave does so little it doesn't even make a difference. Fire Blast has negligible accuracy plus it doesn't hit much outside of Ferrothorn and Scizor; the latter threatens M-Absol with a priority Bullet Punch which deals enough damage to KO at a certain range.
Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty / Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Beam / Play Rough
- Protect
Here is a sample set of how VGC Absol should be ran. Sucker Punch for priority, Knock Off is it's strongest STAB move plus it removes items, Ice Beam for what I mentioned earlier or you can run Play Rough for Hydreigon, Terrakion, Virizion, and all the other mons weak to this attack. 12 SpA EVs allows you to OHKO Mega Salamence 100% of the time with Ice Beam. Obviously if you're not running Ice Beam, go 252 Attack and Speed with a Jolly Nature.
Change Extreme Speed for Bullet Punch on Lucario so you can hit Fairies like Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon before they can even attack. Take off Rock Slide and run either Crunch, Ice Punch or Stone Edge. NEVER rely on flinches for strategy. It is an idiotic mindset for playing Pokemon. Crunch hits Aegislash, however, if you have Absol alive you may see this as redundant, Ice Punch hits Flying types for super effective outside of Gyarados, Talonflame and Charizard-Y and Stone Edge hits all Flying types but does significantly more damage than Rock Slide.
Stealth Rocks ain't for Doubles friend. Keep that move for the singles metagame. You can run Rock Slide on Garchomp instead or Iron Head if Fairies are giving you issues.
Scrap Blizzard for either Ice Beam or Snarl on Suicune. Blizzard's accuracy is horrid. Also, use a different spread. 252/252 defensive mons don't work as well as if you were to spread the EVs out a bit more. To make good EV spreads, you need to research the meta and find what threatens Suicune so you can EV it to survive attacks. And why do you have 0 IVs in Defense?
AV Sylveon is just bad. Never leave this thing out in the open for Pokemon such as Bisharp, Scizor, Escavalier, Kangaskhan, Salamence, Terrakion, Garchomp (this list goes on) that pressure it with an OHKOing move. Make Sylveon's EV spread more diverse and change the item to either Pixie Plate, Choice Specs, Life Orb or Babiri Berry. You don't need Psyshock or Shadow Ball either. Hyper Voice and Hidden Power Ground gives you neutral hits against every Pokemon barring Skarmory and Bronzong who are never used in Doubles.
Change Arcanine's moveset. Flare Blitz breaks your Focus Sash, Close Combat isn't necessary because the other mons on your team hit what it needs to hit, Extreme Speed can stay, so can Morning Sun. Special Arcanine with Flamethrower/Fire Blast (if you're okay with missing a lot) and Snarl can put a lot of pressure on the opponent. I pick Snarl because it allows Arcanine to survive hits like Rotom-W Hydro Pump, Heatran's Earth Power etc. and its a good spread move. Safety Goggles, Rocky Helmet, Sitrus Berry or Leftovers works great on Arcanine. Helping Hand is also an option to boost Absol's damage output as well as Sylveon's, Lucario's and Garchomp's.
Just know from now that Garchomp isn't going to be able to freely Earthquake without damaging an ally, not having Pokemon with Levitate or Flying type makes it easy for the opponent to Earthquake the crap out of your team, not having any form of coverage against water types is bad as they can cripple your team and eat up hits for days, Thunder Wave murders your team and so does Thundurus-Incarnate, yeah. This team has a good amount of flaws.
My advice is to test the team on Battle Spot, get a feel of the competitive metagame (unless you fall to below 1500 where the bad players are) and by your own judgement, make adjustments the way you see fit to your battle style if the advice here doesn't help you
Good luck man!
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