Pokemon VGC 2016 Metagame Megathread

[Rogue]

DISCLAIMER: I AM BY NO MEANS A VGC16 PRO. MY SETS AREN'T GOING TO BE 100% PERFECT. FIGHT ME IRL

Yo! It's Rogue, your least favorite mod! If you aren't aware, the rules for VGC16 have been posted. Here they are if you wanna read up, if you want the TLDR version, look below: http://www.pokemon.com/us/strategy/vgc-2...s-preview/

TLDR: A few Ubers/Boss Legends/Super-Good-And-Strong-Legends/Whatever you wanna call them; Are legal for VGC16. Except you can only have 2 per team. So basically, limited Ubers. (I'm gonna refer to them as ubers throughout my guides, just for sake of understanding) Here are the usable Ubers:

Mewtwo (+ mega x/y), Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre (+ primal), Groudon (+ primal), Rayquaza (+ Mega), Dialga, Palkia, Giratina (+ Origin), Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem (+ B&W), Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde.

I know a lot of our users are unfamiliar with these Pokemon. So I wanted to make go ahead and make a Metagame thread for VGC16. In this thread, users and I will be explaining these ubers capabilities, what you'll most likely see them use/what items they'll use, and some ideas on how to run these legandary Pokemon.  Keep in mind that this is made at the beginning of VGC16, so who knows what will change/if these sets will stay common, become bad, ect. Let's start with the Pokemon who I personally think is the BEST uber out of all of these.

Write ups;
Groudon
Dialga
Lugia
Kyogre
Mega Rayquaza
Yveltal

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(Couldn't get the gif to work, fight me.)

Primal Groudon
HP: 100
ATK: 180
DEF: 160
SPATK: 150
SPDEF: 90
SPE: 90

Typing: Fire / Ground

Ability: Desolate Land (Creates the Strong Sun weather. This lasts until the Pokémon exits battle, and renders Water-type moves useless)

What? Primal Groudon? This isn't Mega Rayquaza, Rogue, what're you thinking!
Lemme go ahead and say it: I don't think Mega Rayquaza is going to be absolutely broken in VGC. You can double target it, T-Wave it, it's easy to taunt so it doesn't DD, Sylveon/Xerneas/M-Gardevoir, Trick room, ect. In my opinion, Mega Kangaskhan is still the best mega choice. I said it, argue if you wish.

Any who, Primal Groudon! Not only is this the best Legendary in singles Ubers, I believe it's still the best in VGC16. It's typing is good, it's ability takes away it's water weakness, it can't be t-waved, can't be burned, has the strongest EQ (an even stronger eq with precipice blades, too), decent movepool, can be mixed... I think I'll stop there. So, what does our Primal Friend commonly run?

Also, look at how goods it's defense is.. +1 252+ Atk Life Orb Mega Rayquaza Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Primal Groudon: 156-185 (89.1 - 105.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

BRUH

Physical speedy attacker:
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb  
Ability: Desolate Land  
Level: 50  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Earthquake / Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch  
- ? (I run T-Wave currently.)
- Protect

I know people usually stay away from 252/252 spreads, myself included: But this set is good as it is. With base 180 defense, and it's ground weakness usually being weakened due to the doubles format (EQ, Precipice blades), it's easy to run a fast and heavy hitter build. Speed is most important due to you wanting to win speed ties against opposing Primal Groudons and EQ them first. Fire punch for stab and the fact that it's just... ridiculously strong from our EV placement, it being stab, and it being even stronger due to the sun..Oh, and it can burn I guess. Protect is the best move in VGC, so run it. and your last move is really up to your team. Here are some good options for a filler move:

Thunder Wave, Thunder Punch, Hone Claws (helps Precipice blades hit!), Swords Dance, Rock Polish, Power-Up Punch, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Dragon Claw, Substitute

Here come's another boring set, so bare with me!

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Speedy Special Attacker:
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb  
Ability: Desolate Land  
Level: 50  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe  
Timid Nature  
- Earth Power  
- Lava Plume  
- Protect  
- ? (I run Ancient Power currently)

So, why run special over physical? It really depends on the meta in my opinion. If intimidate spam comes even more common, that's a good reason. Another good reason is: Lava plume & Earth power. Lava plume has a 30% to burn, it's STAB, hit's everything so it's almost like using EQ so it isn't THAT much different, and it's boosted by the sun. Earth Power is great because it's strong & it's stab. It also beats opposing primal groudons! Assuming they aren't bulky ones, that is. Precipice blades and EQ won't OHKO a primal groudon, even if they're 0HP & 0DEF due to the doubles environment of weakening spread moves. So hopefully we can win a speed tie/outspeed an opposing primal groudon, surprise them with the Earth Power and OHKO them! Another reason to run special Groudon: Aegislash. It's kind of tough to face Aegislash as a physical attacker. EQ/Blades is blocked by wide guard, and fire punch can be caught by king's shield. We don't have to worry about this with Special, and we can drop an earth power on it! Once again, protect is the best in VGC.

Notable filler moves:
Ancient Power, Dragon Pulse, Eruption (can be fun), Fire Blast/Flamethrower, Focus Miss Blast, Hidden Power Ice, Overheat, Thunder/Thunderbolt (Helps against Primal Kyogre!), Solar Beam (WOOO FOREVER BEAMS)

Now for meeting in the middle!

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Mixed Primal Groudon #1:
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb  
Ability: Desolate Land  
Level: 50  
EVs: 108 ATK / 148 SpA / 252 Spe  
Naive Nature  
- Earth Power  
- Earthquake / Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch  
- Protect

This set is basically used to beat... you guessed it. Opposing primal groudons. Max speed naive so can at the very least speed tie with other p-groudons, and Earth Power will OHKO your basic speedy physical attacker set. Earth Power also helps deal with Aegislash, breaking away from our 50/50 with EQ/fire punch.

Mixed Primal Groudon #2
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb  
Ability: Desolate Land  
Level: 50  
EVs: 180 Atk / 76 SpA / 252 Spe  
Rash Nature  
- Overheat  
- Earthquake / Precipice Blades 
- Fire Punch  
- Protect

This set doesn't utilize Max speed with a speed + nature. My reasoning behind it is wanting to OHKO threats with Overheat. Things like Amoonguss, Dialga, Aegislash, ect. I wanted that damage over worrying about a speed + nature, since we won't be ohkoing opposing primal groudons with this set as it is.

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*A Favorite*
Swords Dance 2 STAB:
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb  
Ability: Desolate Land  
Level: 50  
EVs: 56 HP / 84 Atk / 116 SpD / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Swords Dance  
- Earthquake  
- Fire Punch  
- Protect

This is a really fun set, EV's are a little wild due to me making them in like 10 minutes. Basically here what it gets:
-Lives Earth Power from Heatran/Primal Groudon & even has a chance to live it from a LO Landorus.
-+2 Groudon basically destroys everything. Fire Punch OHKO'ing 252 HP mons like Xerneas, Yveltal, M-Kang, ect. EQ destroys things like Dialga, as well!
-3HKO'd by max SPA shadowball from Aegislash.
-+2 84 Atk Primal Groudon Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Caterpie in Harsh Sun: 8882-10452 (74016.6 - 87100%) -- guaranteed OHKO does this to a lv.1 caterpie. Just in case.
-Other good stuff I don't feel like typing because it's 3 AM.

Note: I feel like SD is better than rock polish or hone claws. Due to factors like the +1 atk from hone claws doesn't do enough for precipice blades due to doubles format. and Rock Polish is good, but tailwind is a thing so it'd be smarter in my opinion to run a tailwind mon if possible.

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*These, in my opinion are the current most optimal sets. I know 252/252 is somewhat lame for some of these, but I really feel like Primal Groudon is such a threat, it needs to be gone as soon as possible. A good way to beat primal groudon is primal groudon.

I thought about posting a set that's good under tailwind, but I feel like that's still scary because your opponent can also be running tailwind.

So, yeah. There are day 1 basic sets. I don't think these will change too much, but if they do it'll be team dependent. EV changes due to tailwind/trick room really. I think this mon is definitely the best choice out of your 2 slots, and should be utilized.

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Pairs well with: Mega Kangaskhan, Bisharp (helps scare off intimidate users), Thundurus, Yveltal, Aegislash, follow me users.

Fears: Opposing Primal Groudons, air balloon heatran depending on your set, primal kyogre, mega rayquaza, defensive foul play yveltal