(couldnt find a chien pao sprite, heres the better image)Introduction
So, first time posting here so heads-up, if anything looks bad I do apologise. I have tried to follow the rules as closely as possible but there are probably going to be a few rough areas. Anyways, this team is something I conceived after seeing an Azelf on the battle ladder. The whole premise of this team is to go fast and allow Azelf to go boom.
This has gone through many changes,e.g. Murkrow and Iron Bundle replacing Noivern and Chien-Pao, but I feel comfortable now to show it to you all.The Team
Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 36 Atk / 220 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Explosion
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Helping Hand
Ahhh, the star of the show.
Azelf is the main reason why this team was created and many of the other pokemon were optimised to allow for the safest boom. The main aspect is of course, Explosion. With Tera Normal and Life Orb, Explosion will hit like a truck. This allows it to gain an advantage of either itself for two at best, or at worse two very damaged pokemon for itself. This allows the others on the team to clean up later on. Psychic is standard for STAB to allow it to threaten others when it doesn't seem right to explode and thunderbolt is purely for coverage against water types, which can be a struggle for this team. Finally, helping hand allows it to not only dodge opposing sucker punches, but also gives it a form of team support that can help others on the team to deal more damage. This set has amazing coverage and will have opposing enemies enraged and wanting to 
.(Suprisingly this ended up being the shortest section, despite the team being based around this mon. I guess hindsight is 20/20)Gholdengo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Make it Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Power Gem
- Trick
Gholdengo is honsetly mandatory on this team I feel. Not only is it an amazing pokemon that is naturally immune to Azelf's explosion, but it's also the main special attacker of the team(besides Azelf which plans to boom more often than not). This allows it to at least not be crippled by Intimidate, though it isn't good against the main intimidate user Landorus-Therian, or others like Arcanine. The main reasoning of Choice Specs over Scarf is to allow it to be deal much more damage and that the speed issue can be resolved by Noivern. Make it Rain is standard for a Gholdengo, as it does great STAB damage and with Chien-Pao's Haze the stat drops incurred from it's use can be reset. Shadow Ball is also standard as a secondary, no drawback STAB move if needed while Power Gem is good to hit flying, bug and fire types, allowing it to somewhat deal with them. Trick is useful to limit the options of the opponents if I feel that locking into a move would be disadvantageous for Gholdengo. Finally, the choice of Tera Steel is to get as much power from Make it Rain as possible. This set is quite standard for the cheese string man, but it does apply good spread damage and makes the teams matchup against Intimidate a tiny bit better.
Noivern @ No Item
Ability: Telepathy
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tailwind
- Super Fang
- Taunt
- Thief
This pokemon is is probably the biggest suprise on the team
, but it is quite crucial to the team. It is the only pokemon that has access to tailwind and is immune to explosion (Drifblim and Decidueye fans right now
) and thus is the best tailwind user I feel for this team. It is a purely support pokemon that main job is to ensure that the rest of the team is able to go first and ko the opposing team as quickly as possible. Telepathy is crucial for Noivern, as it allows it to ignore Azelf's boom. Noivern is most likely not going to be tera'd, but Dark allows you to not be taunted by pranster users like murkrow or tornadus. It's high 123 base speed allows it to outrun most other tailwind setters that do not have priority on the move, which mainly benefits Gholdengo and Scizor. Super Fang allows for Noivern to chip opponents into KO range for other pokemon or to simply deal some damage when it is about to be ko'd. Taunt allows it to stop any setup sweepers and stop slower tailwind setters i.e non-prankster users and every tailwind setter besides non-Gale Wings Talonflame and Kilowattrel. Finally No Item and Thief allows Noivern to potentially steal an important item such as leftovers or choice items, ruining some pokemon or structures that rely on them, as well as dealing some damage if the opponent is at low health. Overall, Noivern is the pokemon that could be replaced the easiest, but it's combination of traits of speed, tailwind and Telepathy means it can be a great support mon.
Scizor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Feint
This is the other potentially unusual pokemon choice, but I think it is very good, hopefully
. (JK, it is actually quite good, please don't come after me
) Rocky Helmet is actually quite useful on Scizor as the HP investment allows it to take many hits and punishes any use of Fake out against it. Bullet Punch of course is standard as it is a great STAB move, allows for Scizor to get around it's bad speed stat and is great for revenge killing. The main differences in this set is no bug STAB and the additions of Aerial Ace, Swords Dance and Feint. No Bug STAB was a hard decision to make, and the three non-STAB moves could be removed for this e.g. Pounce or X-scissor. However, I feel that these other moves are great for itself and the team and that Bug STAB isn't really useful against the meta. Aerial Ace is a good coverage move and with Tera Flying it can do significant damage. Speaking of Tera Flying, this is great for not only avoiding Lando's earthquake but also for general surviving purposes. Swords Dance is a weird option, but it can actually be set up pretty easily with the threat of Bullet Punch and the bulk investment allows it to live most hits. This also can turn it into a win condition, with bullet punch ko'ing weaker pokemon and aerial ace/tera flying being great under tailwind. Finally, feint allows for scizor to support the team by stopping frailer mons from using protect and allowing powerful moves such as Azelf's Explosion and Pao's ice spinner from landing on their targets. This is especially important for Azelf, as it will die and also potentially severly damage a team member on the way out. Overall, Scizor is great on multiple fronts and combines defense, offensive and support into one nice package.
Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Rock Slide
- Stomping Tantrum
Wow, such an unexpected choice for a doubles team
. Jokes aside, Landorus-Therian be doing Landorus-Therian things.
Chien-Pao @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Haze
- Icy Wind
- Ice Spinner
- Sacred Sword
Once again, sorry for using a smilie, the links to the sprites did not seem to have any chien-pao's. Anyways, this Chien-pao is quite different from the usual one's. Rather than focusing purely on offense, this is a blend between offense/support. Ice spinner is the usual STAB move, chosen over icicle crash because the 5 less power and flinch chance does not seem worth it over a 5% miss chance. The main deviant in this set is the inclusion of haze and icy wind. Haze allows it to not only negate boost sweepers such as Dragonite and Dondozo, but also negate intimidate drops on this team. This is not only great for Azelf, Scizor and Landorus, but also means that Pao can hit as hard as possible. Icy wind has a dual purpose, to slow down the opposing team and negate opposing focus sashes. This means that with the last move, Sacred Sword, Chien Pao can deal with opposing Paos that don't have priority. Focus Sash is standard to allow it to do its job and Tera ghost is to stop extreme speeds or fake outs from ko'ing it and to allow for Azelf to boom without killing Pao. Overall, Chien Pao has a good mix of offense and utility that means it is good in any matchup.
Conclusion
Sorry for the long descriptions, not only is this my first time using Rate My Team, but I also thought I should give as much detail to show my thought process behind my decisions. This team is one I'm very proud of, but of course I'm no pro, there is most likely many changes needed, but I feel like this is a decent team that will at the very least, be a lot of fun.
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