Volt-Turn still viably exists (Currently 2110)

[Glace0n]

With the introduction of generation six came the introduction of mega-evolutions. And with these mega evolutions came pokemon tailored to specific tasks. Lucario became a staple of hyper offense teams. Tyranitar king of the sand, who gives no shits about your special attack. And Gyarados; arguably (and in my opinion) the most effective dragon dancer of the generation. And the mega-backbone of my team that has carried me through thick and thin - the most ridiculous looking of the mega-evolutions:

Mega Manectric was made for Volt-Turn. Terrifying coverage, blazing speed, and excellent special attack--Mega Manectric is Jolteon 2.0 and better in so many ways. He is the King of Volt-Turn.

At the time of posting this I am 16-4 with this team (16-2 before my last two matches -.-), rank 149 on the ladder, and have absolutely hit a wall. I have built what is in my opinion an great team; but there is much room for improvement and I flat out need help to fully realize this team. So without further ado, here it is:

(this is my first RMT by the way)

TEAM AT A GLANCE:

GENERAL STRATEGY:
The goal of this team is not to Volt Switch and U-Turn the other team into the ground. Sure that happens every now and then; but the goal of this team is really to use a Volt-Turn corps to gain leverage on the opponent and use that leverage for setting up sweepers (Azumarill); walling whilst damaging opponents (Intimidation duo and the great Wall of Rotom); and deflect status intended for my precious Volt-Turners (Using Espeon-my bae).
What usually ends up happening is I use the Volt-Turn corps to damage and eliminate all of those preventing Manectric and Genesect from sweeping-then proceed to enjoy the sweep.

IN DEPTH ANALYSIS:

Jolteon 2.0 (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]

This is absolutely the star of the team. Manectric has the coverage to take down almost anything and the opportunity to switch out into something that can. He is generally my lead-and and can handle almost anything. Pokes that wish to set up hazards get volt-switched into Espeon-their sashes/sturdy breaking whilst having their efforts denied. If I fear red card I just flat out switch into Espeon (also the case for the occasional thing that outspeeds Manectric). Physical attackers get volt-switched into Lando-T and have to face a physically defensive Poke at -2 Attack. Special attackers (namely the all too common Rotom lead) Get switched into my own Rotom (funny how only rotom counters rotom) or Espeon if I anticipate a burn. After this, Manectric proceeds to act as a ridiculous source of damage output for the volt-turn corps and a sweeper whenever he deems the opponents worthy of his broom.

Rage, bro (Azumarill) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet

Azumarill is amazing; as it can be switched into something it easily handles and only takes one turn to set up. It then proceeds to aqua jet a large portion of the meta with relative ease. That being said-this is first poke I'm looking to replace. It simply doesn't have the damage output pre-boost to be a viable sweeper; and having reached the toppish ranks everyone has a counter to it. I am certainly looking to take belly drum off of it and perhaps waterfall. I have been thinking about exchanging this for Conkeldurr or Scolipede (Conkeldurr to deal with Blissey/Heatran and as a solid sweeper; Scolipede as an amazing opportunistic setup sweeper). I will run some tests on other acc's to figure it out-but want input for this.

Lazers, bish (Genesect) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
- Thunderbolt

First off- Genesect has been filling a REALLY weird role on this team. (Before you ask questions Giga Drain is for Gastrodon-who otherwise almost completely walls this team). Genesect has been acting as a late game reserve poke. It fills in the gaps of anything that I have lost and sweeps in the very final stages of a game-where it's moves hit everything for neutral or super effective damage. This role is one I have found very useful-but not useful enough. I simply don't use sect enough to justify keeping it. Its coverage is basically redundant with Manectric outclassing it in almost every way. It isn't bulky enough to facilitate switching it into moves. Perhaps the only other thing it does well is it acts as a pseudo lead. When Lando, Rotom, or Manectric kill something with Volt-Turn I can send it in to outspeed almost anything my opponent feeds it. I am thinking about trying out Scizor over this slot (for similar typing and similar role but with different coverage) and when that fails I really have no idea what to put here.

Pumba (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 172 Def / 248 HP / 88 Spd
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake

Volt Switching from Manectric to Landorus on a physical attacker is one of the most satisfying feelings of using this team. Pumba is my rock-setter; utility physical counter; and damn good at what he does. HP Ice is for the terrifying Gliscor; for opposing Lando-T's and anything else that likes taking U-turn or EQ. I love this thing.

I'm cute (Espeon) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Espeon works as prescribed-if I am smart enough to predict a status I can turn that status against my foes in a wonderful display. I run AV because I wanted a secondary special wall that could still dish out punishment with it's nice special attack. I like this; but am considering running a better wall that also has defog to neutralize hazards. Latias perhaps? or Skarmory/Mandibuzz? Togekiss? Regardless; I might or might not trade this cutie out for another poke.

and lastly...

Kelly's Cleaners (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 208 SDef / 252 HP / 48 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

This is a standard specially defensive Rotom with just enough speed to outspeed max Azumarill. Rotom is rotom -- my go to switch/wall/status inflicter/decent damage-dealer. I don't really think I need to say much else and am not really looking to change this set (unless someone has an absolutely brilliant idea).

PROBLEMS:
The biggest problem I face is the defensive teams running rampant in the upper ranks. They absolutely tear me apart-especially the incredible Gastrodon/Heatran duo. Blissey is also a huge problem-as I cannot reliably take down a good Blissey set used by a good Blissey player.

On top of that; set up sweepers special sweepers present a reasonable issue to me-particularly Volcarona running giga drain. If I can get its HP down I can switch Azumarill in and Aqua Jet ftw but it is still a somewhat notable issue. I usually just try to get rocks set up if I see Volcarona on the other team.

Wall-breaker Aegislash (the standard at this point in the meta) is a notable but nowhere near insurmountable issue. Neither is Volcarona for that matter-just noteworthy.

Aside from that; I think I'm done. I have made a team that rips apart offensive and balanced teams alike; while struggling with defensive cores. I am looking to improve it-and anything you might have to suggest I will consider.

EXPORTABLE STUFF

Kelly's Cleaners (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 208 SDef / 252 HP / 48 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

Pumba (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 172 Def / 248 HP / 88 Spd
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake

Rage, bro (Azumarill) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet

Jolteon 2.0 (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I'm cute (Espeon) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Lazers, bish (Genesect) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Giga Drain

 

[Steel.Storm]

Just glancing over as I don't have much time atm, but there's literally no reason to be using HP Grass on 'Sect as he has access to Giga Drain which is superior in every fathomable way. Also fantastic use of this Mega, really nice to see him get some attention!

 

[muna]

I love seeing Mega Manectric getting some usage. I have yet to play against one, and honestly forgot it existed! Team looks pretty cool overall. The one biggest suggestion I could give is probably to get a rapid spinner (or maybe a defogger?). You have a volt-turn team which means A LOT of residual damage from entry hazards unless you can get them out. Espeon is just too unreliable of a way to counter hazards. I would consider replacing Genesect with a Forretress for several reasons.

• Same typing as Genesect so you don't have to mix around your whole team to keep type synergy up
• You said Genesect wasn't too useful for you anyways
• You can put Spikes on it which, if you are volt turning well, can lead to tons of extra damage.
• It learns volt turn

A Vaporeon could also work well on your team if you opt for Forretress and it helps you out with a few of your team's problems. It works well with Forretress, taking the special hits (especially the fire hits) that Forretress can't handle, and it can use Wish to heal Forretress who lacks reliable recovery. It's also a great user of Toxic and Roar which lets you take care of your issues with very defensive teams (and Blissey if it's the last Pokemon left) and set up sweepers respectively.

 

[Laurel]

This team is good, and I mean really good. It has a few problems that I have noticed from playing with it, but I'm not entirely sure how to remedy it. Aegislash and Talonflame are two of the most common pokemon in the meta, and the both have a fiesta all over your team. Your only check to both is Rotom-W, so when they are both used on the same team, which isn't that uncommon you need to play incredibly aggressive to take them out.

Next, I have never ever found any reason to use Giga Drain on Genesect. I think that Ice Beam would be a lot better because it hits Dragonite so it cannot set up. Assault Velt Espeon does a good enough job checking Gastrodon, and everything else (WoW from RotomW) eventually wears it down. Also, being locked into Giga Drain is like asking Dragonite or Mega Lucario to set up on you... Not saying Ice Beam isn't the same but at least it has a chance to freeze.

You're also missing 4 EVs on Espeon.

Other then adding Ice Beam > Giga Drain I can't really think of much. Against a lot of teams with Aegislash you just have to go right in and take it down because nothing resists it's stab. Running Assault Velt on Rotom-W won't work because it really needs WoW and Lefties.

My main suggestion. Keep Keep Keep Azumarill. You need the dragon resistance and the sweep potential. This thing runs straight through stall.

tl;dr

Giga Drain --> Ice Beam Genesect
Missing EVs on Espeon
Keep Azumarill
Kill Aegislash immediately

 

[glam]

I'm really glad to see that Mega-Manectric is getting some love. I've also been playing around with quite a bit of volt-turn using Mega-Manectric as the star and I think he's criminally underrated. He really brings the strategy to life.

EDIT: I thought some more on your Azumarill set and I think it may not be worth throwing out after all. I had suggested using Cloyster in this slot, which could still be worth trying out. But I think what would be worth trying first is an EV spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def on Azumarill. 100/80/80 are surprisingly good defenses and Azumarill has a solid defensive typing so I think it may be worth trying to leverage that. Also consider running Superpower over Waterfall; the attack drop isn't as hard to stomach when you're at +6 and you need to not be walled silly by Ferrothorn.

Somebody in an earlier post recommended swapping Genesect for Forretress. If you want the team to take on a slightly more balanced feel, Forretress is an excellent choice. He's one of the slowest Volt Switch users in OU (the slowest?) and gives your team some desperately needed hazard removal. If you do lose Genesect, your team will have issues with common scarf users like Garchomp and Salamence, but a powerful Gyro Ball could help deal with that. A slightly more offensive option here would be Scizor, either CB or defog. Which set you run kind of depends on what you want to do with Espeon.

Speaking of Espeon, I'm never a big fan of it. Maybe it's that my prediction isn't on the level of yours (probably the case) but if somehow hazards get on the field you have no way to take them off, and Mega-Manectric really needs all the help it can get staying alive. That said, I think you have a few choices with what to do here. You could replace Espeon with a hazard remover. Personally I think Crobat would be great for your team as it gives you both a super fast Taunt to prevent hazards from coming up, as well as a super fast U-turn. Unfortunately if you want Taunt on a Defogging crobat you suffer 4MSS, as you need to squeeze out one of U-Turn, Roost, and Brave Bird. Another option would be to drop in a wish passer. Vaporeon would be good as it has gigantic wishes, fantastic bulk, and a slow baton pass. Lando-T and your bug/steel type already provide you with many comfortable answers to electric and grass types so that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Lastly, you could opt to have Rotom run Chesto-Rest to let it function as a status absorber, which would be particularly useful if you lose Espeon. The same spread should still work fine.

TLDR: you have a really fantastic volt-turn core in Mega-Manectric, Lando-T, and Rotom-W. Other pokemon to consider are Scizor, Crobat, Forretress, Cloyster, Scolipede, and Vaporeon. I really enjoyed looking over your team and reading your insights into this strategy and use of Mega-Manectric in particular. Good luck! :)

 

[vonK]

I saw this team (copied exactly, down to the nicknames) on PS and it completely demolished me, which I thought was impressive as my then team had been doing pretty decently. Mega-Manectric is still one of the weaker Megas but this team has proven that its still dangerous when given the right support. I started using this team myself and was impressed at how effective it was at completely dismantling other teams in a matter of turns, however it could still benefit from a few changes.

First off Chesto-Resto Rotom is definitely a must. Rotom-W is the bread-and-butter of volt switch teams and you'll want to keep him alive as long as possible. Leftovers/Pain Split are nice but Rotom is a huge target for toxic/burn and pain split will generally replenish less health than you'll lose when you take a hit. Chesto Resto generally gives Rotom a far longer lifespan than it otherwise would have and allows it to sponge status like a champ, which this team could benefit from.

I'm also not sold on Espeon. It's not bad, and bouncing Stealth Rock/WoW is really satisfying, but I think you really need a defogger/spinner otherwise one misprediction means your team will get run down very quickly. Also while I would classify this team as more or less bulky offense, Espeon has no real bulk whatsoever. I'm still trying to figure out a good replacement myself but Latias might work nicely, though taunt/defog/roost/(foul play or knock off) Mandibuzz is also a decent option with her ability to absorb spore and disrupt teams. Crobat isn't a bad option either (though U-turn is a waste of a slot on him IMO), and if you swap out Genesect for scizor it could also theoretically run defog.

As for Genesect I find that Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Giga Drain is the best set on him. Between Ice Beam and Giga Drain you cover almost everything that Thunderbolt would hit save for Gyarados (who other members of this team cover well already) and Fire types (Who Genesect shouldn't dream about challenging anyways). In addition while Giga Drain will probably be used markedly less than the other 3 moves, its very important for getting rid of Gastrodon/Quagsire/Lanturn/Rotom-W and other odd pokemon who would otherwise give this team trouble.

 

[Glace0n]

Funnily enough I recently ran into my own team. Needless to say knowing every move on every Pokemon helps; so I did beat it, but that got me thinking about this team again-and I've decided to try it at the ladder again. I will be updating this post and eventually my original post if I ever get past 2247 (the peak of the original team).

muna

I would consider replacing Genesect with a Forretress for several reasons.

• Same typing as Genesect so you don't have to mix around your whole team to keep type synergy up
• You said Genesect wasn't too useful for you anyways
• You can put Spikes on it which, if you are volt turning well, can lead to tons of extra damage.
• It learns volt turn

Forretress hasn't suited me at all. It does provide reasonable support and utility but doesn't in my opinion have enough bite to it's volt-switch or a good enough niche to keep it around. Granted I didn't extensively test it, but it hasn't worked for me.

glam

Lastly, you could opt to have Rotom run Chesto-Rest to let it function as a status absorber, which would be particularly useful if you lose Espeon. The same spread should still work fine.

Thus far absolutely the best change I have made to the team. Thanks. As for your other comments, I haven't been able to justify keeping Azumarill around. Replacing it with Scolipede helped in some regards-but I am going to be extensively testing Cloyster and Conkeldurr. I think Cloyster sounds very promising. Also, I love me some Crobat-and am going to also be trying it and hitmonlee on top of espeon.

 

[vonK]

Really, Azumarill hasn't been working out? How so? In my experience he's one of the most crucial members of the team, and easily the most consistent performer. He's your main source of priority and he hits like a truck. Perhaps try CB Azumarill with Knock Off instead of Belly Drum if you're concerned he's not hitting hard enough. I've also heard Sub/leftovers Azumarill has its uses.

Also I'm glad Crobat is getting some love. I'd recommend Taunt/BB/Defog/Super Fang, though Super Fang can be replaced with Roost if you want to sacrifice power/utility for durability.

 

[Glace0n]

vonK:
Azumarill works excellently until you get to 2000. At that point people know how to deal with it and it falls short. I will though try CB with knock off just because I want fairy typing so badly, however the role I was trying to fill with Azumarill was a sweeper, not a hard-hitter.

Currently testing out different Crobat sets; but that will be top of the list :).

 

[vonK]

vonK:
Azumarill works excellently until you get to 2000. At that point people know how to deal with it and it falls short. I will though try CB with knock off just because I want fairy typing so badly, however the role I was trying to fill with Azumarill was a sweeper, not a hard-hitter.

Currently testing out different Crobat sets; but that will be top of the list :).

I agree that BD Azumarill is fairly predictable, very few of the teams I've made have ever succumbed to a sweep by him. Aqua Jet is simply too weak to cover for his sub-par speed and while he has bulk he's not bulky enough to feel comfortable taking 50% from BD along with Hazard Damage/damage taken on the turn he needs to set up. While CB Azumarill is a little less flexible it's also much better at punishing switches and being immediately threatening. If it doesn't work maybe try AV Conkeldurr with Drain Punch/Mach Punch/Ice Punch/Knock Off, that thing is just an absolute monster and would greatly enjoy volt-switch support, especially if his teammate fields the switch in damage for him.

 

[glam]

vonK:
Azumarill works excellently until you get to 2000. At that point people know how to deal with it and it falls short. I will though try CB with knock off just because I want fairy typing so badly, however the role I was trying to fill with Azumarill was a sweeper, not a hard-hitter.

Currently testing out different Crobat sets; but that will be top of the list :).

Yeah, I think the reason Azumarill has been working out on my iterations of this team is that I'm usually playing below the 2000 level :). I tried out Scolipede and it seemed to work really well. Plenty of free wins if you get a free turn to SD.

I'm curious to hear which Crobat sets you've been trying and how they work. I've tried a couple Taunt users in that slot (Cobalion, anyone?) and having a reliable Taunt user is probably one of the most important things for this team. You mentioned in your original post that very bulky/stall teams rip this team apart (this mirrors my experience as well) and packing a fast Taunter prevents you from getting destroyed by the likes of Gliscor, Clefable, and to a somewhat lesser extent Gastrodon. Crobat is definitely the fastest but can kind of struggle to be useful in some scenarios. One that I've been looking into for that slot is actually Mew, who, like Crobat, is able to run Taunt, Defog, and U-Turn, but also brings unique support options like Heal Bell, Thunder Wave, Knock Off, and basically everything else under the sun. I don't have a Mew set nailed down here but I think it could be worth a try.