In-battle formes
Base
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| HP: | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 100 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 150 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 100 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 150 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 50 |
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Mega
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| HP: | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 160 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 110 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 160 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 110 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 110 |
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Strategies
- en
Overview
Mega Diancie's movepool may be somewhat limited, but when backed by high base Speed and attacking stats, it is able to propel Mega Diancie to the forefront of the Doubles metagame. Mega Diancie achieves solid mixed attacking coverage between two strong STAB attacks, with Earth Power filling in many of the few holes that are left. Using that coverage, Mega Diancie can take out many relevant threats such as Hydreigon, Heatran, Keldeo, and Mega Charizard Y. Perhaps Mega Diancie's greatest asset is found in its exclusive primary STAB move, Diamond Storm, which has everything a Doubles Pokemon could want: high Base Power, high accuracy, and a helpful secondary effect that gives some protection against physical attackers. Mega Diancie also has a superb ability in Magic Bounce, shielding it from moves that would otherwise severely hinder it such as Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp.
Unfortunately, a low HP stat further offset by uninvested defenses and weaknesses to decently common types in Water and Ground leaves Mega Diancie somewhat frail. More specifically, a weakness to the omnipresent Landorus-T's Earthquake makes it difficult for Mega Diancie to perform as well as it could otherwise. Having a low base Speed prior to Mega Evolving also holds it back, forcing it to rely on Protect to Mega Evolve safely. On the other hand, this low base Speed lets Diancie possess a little bit of flexibility in using its base forme to operate as a Trick Room setter with far more bulk than its Mega counterpart. Utilizing both Clear Body and a powerful Diamond Storm lets this set thrive in sweeping unprepared teams. However, Trick Room Diancie is hindered by the same critical typing weaknesses, as well as being countered by common Trick Room checks Amoonguss and Aegislash.
Mega Mixed Attacker
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Moves
Diamond Storm functions as Mega Diancie's primary STAB move, dealing significant spread damage to both foes with a 50% chance to raise Mega Diancie's Defense stat for each foe it hits. These boosts can allow Mega Diancie to avoid getting revenge killed, most notably surviving a Landorus-T Earthquake after one Defense boost. With Diamond Storm, Mega Diancie can take out Fire-, Flying-, and Ice-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Zapdos, and Kyurem-B with nearly perfect accuracy. Moonblast stands as a solid option for Mega Diancie's secondary STAB attack, helping it cover many threats that Diamond Storm cannot, including the common Fighting-, Dark-, and Dragon-types such as Keldeo, Hoopa-U, and Latios. Earth Power rounds out Mega Diancie's fantastic coverage, hitting Steel- and Rock-types such as Heatran, Bisharp, and opposing Mega Diancie that would otherwise shrug it off. Protect is a staple move in Doubles, allowing Mega Diancie to stall out various field conditions or shield itself while a threat is eliminated by its partner. It also importantly because it allows Mega Diancie to safely gain its full base 110 Speed.
Set Details
Maximum investment in Speed and a boosting nature are needed to outrun many significant threats such as Keldeo, Salamence, and Mega Gardevoir, as well as Speed tie with opposing base 110s such as Gengar and Latios. 48 Special Attack EVs are used to guarantee an OHKO on Bisharp with Earth Power, with the remaining EVs placed in Attack to boost the power of Diamond Storm as much as possible. A Hasty nature is typically chosen over a Naive one, as its lowered Defense stat can be remedied by Diamond Storm boosts. This also allows Mega Diancie to survive an Earth Power from Kyurem-B, Heatran, or opposing Mega Diancie. However, Naive is an option to take more advantage of Diamond Storm boosts. A more specially based spread, using 56 Atk / 200 SpA / 252 Spe, is an option to guarantee the 2HKO on Mega Kangaskhan with Moonblast. However, this sacrifices a lot of Diamond Storm's power, which is the move Mega Diancie will be using a majority of its time on the field.
Usage Tips
In general, Mega Diancie should use Diamond Storm in order to deal the most damage possible to the opposing team, filling in any gaps in Diamond Storm's coverage with its other attacks. Protect should be used Diancie's first turn out a majority of the time, since it then only hits 218 Speed, leaving it slower than most of the metagame. This turn of Protect allows Diancie to Mega Evolve safely and gain not only its full Speed but also the useful Magic Bounce. Diancie works quite well as a lead, avoiding any Intimidate Attack drops coming from popular leads thanks to Clear Body and using Magic Bounce to deal with many common disruption tactics after it has Mega Evolved. Since Mega Evolution happens after any Pokemon are switched, Diancie is also able to avoid Intimidate from a Pokemon that switches in on the turn it Mega Evolves. With that in mind, Mega Diancie works at any point of the game, either opening up and clearing the path for a teammate to clean or doing so itself in the mid- or late-game. If Mega Diancie absolutely needs to survive a hit and attack back on its first turn on the field, it can postpone Mega Evolution to stay in its base forme, which has significantly higher defenses. This extra bulk is particularly notable when facing Trick Room teams, as it is not so necessary to get the boost in Speed provided by Mega Evolving, and it can mean the difference between surviving to the end of Trick Room's duration and being knocked out.
Team Options
Fire-types such as Talonflame, Heatran, and Volcarona beat many of the Grass- and Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Aegislash, and Venusaur that scare out Mega Diancie. Grass-types such as Breloom and Ferrothorn can remove Water-types for Mega Diancie, resist the Ground-type moves it's weak to, and appreciate the removal of Flying-types. Similarly, Electric-types such as Rotom-W and Thundurus do well against Water-types. Grass- and Electric-types also help ease Mega Diancie's otherwise difficult rain matchup. Strong Dark-type teammates are greatly appreciated as checks to Dark-weak Steel-types such as Aegislash, Bronzong, and Mega Metagross; some examples include Hoopa-U, Bisharp, and Hydreigon. Bisharp also has the advantage of discouraging Intimidate users from switching in with its Defiant ability. They also have the benefit of threatening bulky Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Jellicent and Cresselia that can practically ignore Mega Diancie thanks to their solid bulk. Anything that beats Landorus-T is much appreciated as a teammate by Mega Diancie, including Kyurem-B (especially Choice Scarf variants) and Keldeo. Similarly, a teammate such as Kyurem-B or Raikou that can take care of Thundurus is greatly appreciated, as fast sets with Flash Cannon outrun and OHKO Mega Diancie. Dragon-types, including Hydreigon and Salamence, benefit from Mega Diancie's ability to beat opposing Dragon-types without fearing their moves in return, and they also act as a solid switch-ins to Water- and Grass-type attacks. They also typically perform well against rain teams, which are one of Mega Diancie's weakest matchups. Steel-types have decent synergy with Mega Diancie, mostly appreciating the removal of Fire-types that Mega Diancie is so good at. Aegislash in particular is a great partner, as it can carry Wide Guard to protect Mega Diancie from Muddy Water or Earthquake and takes care of Bronzong or Mega Metagross. Jirachi also stands out as notable, helping Mega Diancie with redirection support and Icy Wind to help it take on especially fast foes.
Offensive Trick Room
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Moves
Diamond Storm is Diancie's main STAB move, dealing powerful spread damage while having a chance to boost Diancie's Defense. This Rock-type coverage, when combined with Fairy-type coverage in the form of Moonblast, which covers Fighting-types, leaves Diancie only walled by opposing Steel-types. Trick Room is a potent speed control move that gives Diancie's team the upper hand speed-wise for four more turns, allowing Diancie and its teammates room to sweep. Protect is useful for avoiding opposing damage and maneuvering for a better position with Diancie's partner.
Set Details
Stone Plate and 252 EVs in Attack bring Trick Room Diancie's Diamond Storm damage on par with Mega Diancie's, notably allowing it to 2HKO most neutral targets. Maximum HP EVs are used to compensate for Diancie's low base HP stat and to give it a respectable amount of bulk. While Stone Plate is preferred to avoid recoil damage, Life Orb can be used to give Diancie more damage output, notably having a better roll to KO defensive Thundurus while also boosting Moonblast enough to KO Keldeo with 108 Special Attack EVs—without Life Orb, however, there aren't any notable Special Attack benchmarks, and hence the standard spread has no Special Attack investment. If using Life Orb, a spread of 152 HP / 248 Atk / 108 SpA should be used, as this minimizes Life Orb recoil and hits the aforementioned Special Attack benchmark.
Usage Tips
The only foes that resist Diancie's dual coverage are Steel-types, so get rid of these immediately. More often than not, eliminating Aegislash or Jirachi early on grants Diancie a paved road to finish the game, so Diancie often works best mid- or late-game when these threats are eliminated.
Defensively, Diancie brings many things to the table that no other setter can due to its unique Rock / Fairy typing. Take advantage of these unique good matchups—against Talonflame, Kangaskhan, Thundurus, and Hydreigon—for an opportunity to set up Trick Room, usually with Fake Out or redirection support. On the other hand, Diancie should do its best to avoid its difficult matchups, such as against opposing Steel-types, rain sweepers and bulky Water-types, and Amoonguss.
Defensive boosts are also extremely useful: these can be used to easily tank and prevent a late-game Earthquake sweep after Trick Room goes down. Diancie's decent bulk also allows it to tank opposing Earth Power from Heatran, Kyurem-B, or Mega Diancie, as well as Solar Beam from Mega Charizard Y.
Diancie possesses the option to simply use Diamond Storm if you foresee a foe using using Taunt (typically Thundurus, which is weak to Diamond Storm), potentially picking up KOs or dealing large amounts of damage.
Team Options
Diancie's team members should generally be geared towards dealing with its difficult matchups. Especially notable are attackers that can deal with Steel-types such as Volcanion, Scrafty, Heatran, Mega Camerupt, and Hoopa-U and Ground-immune Pokemon such as Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Latios, and Hydreigon. In addition, checks to opposing Water-types such as Dragon-types, Grass-types (Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur), and Mega Charizard Y, as well as Fairy checks in the form of Aegislash, Heatran, and Bronzong, are needed. Fake Out and redirection are two forms of support Diancie greatly appreciates for setting Trick Room; Scrafty and Mega Kangaskhan provide Fake Out, whereas Amoonguss supplies Diancie with redirection. Scrafty and Amoonguss are both very good for compensating for Diancie's weaknesses to Steel-types and Water-types, respectively.
Other Options
Substitute allows Mega Diancie to ignore Intimidate as well as take any one hit and retaliate, and it also becomes decently difficult to break if Mega Diancie accrues many Defense boosts. Hidden Power Ice allows Mega Diancie to take out one of its greatest foes in Landorus-T, usually on the switch or with Tailwind support. However, those two choices force Mega Diancie to drop either Moonblast or Earth Power, leaving it hard stopped by either Fighting- or Steel-types such as Keldeo, Virizion, and Aegislash. Trick Room Diancie can utilize Weakness Policy to gain boosts after taking a super effective hit, but the only super effective hits that won't OHKO Diancie are Earth Power and Earthquake, and Weakness Policy significantly reduces Diancie's damage output, preventing several 2HKOs.
Checks and Counters
Steel-type Pokemon: Steel-types that are not OHKOed by Earth Power, such as Aegislash, Jirachi, Ferrothorn, and Bronzong, are solid answers to Diancie, as they can switch in on either STAB move and OHKO it comfortably. Diancie is also weak to Bullet Punch users such as Mega Metagross, as the attack outprioritizes any of Mega Diancie's options and easily OHKOes it, assuming that Mega Diancie doesn't have too many Defense boosts.
Water-type Pokemon: Water-types such as Suicune and Rotom-W can easily take any hit from Diancie and KO with with their STAB moves. Kingdra in rain outruns Mega Diancie and OHKO with Hydro Pump, though it has to be wary of switching in on Moonblast.
Grass-type Pokemon: Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Venusaur can take out Diancie with their STAB moves while being able to tank any of Diancie's blows. Venusaur in sun easily outruns and KOes with Giga Drain.
Faster Pokemon: Choice Scarf users can reliably outspeed and OHKO Mega Diancie, including Landorus-T through Earthquake, Kyurem-B or Genesect using Iron Head, and Rotom-W with Hydro Pump. Some naturally fast Pokemon, such as Deoxys-A, Mega Aerodactyl, Flash Cannon Thundurus, and Steel Wing Talonflame outspeed Mega Diancie and take it out.
Tailwind and Trick Room: Although Mega Diancie is immune to Thunder Wave through Magic Bounce, both Trick Room, from threats such as Cresselia or Jellicent, and Tailwind, from Suicune or Talonflame, take away Mega Diancie's Speed advantage, leaving it almost unsalvageably frail.
Intimidate and Burns: Will-O-Wisp is conveniently avoided due to Magic Bounce, but Intimidate users such as Landorus-T and Gyarados can weaken Mega Diancie's main attacking move, leaving it considerably less threatening. Regular Diancie, as it is lacking Magic Bounce, has to fear Will-O-Wisp, which not only cuts its Attack but also lowers its longevity to be able to set Trick Room.
Sleep: Sleep-inducers such as Breloom and Amoonguss prevent the Trick Room set from being effective due to them being able to put Diancie to sleep before it can even move.
Wide Guard: Wide Guard users such as Conkeldurr and Aegislash prevent Diamond Storm from being succesful, and they are commonly used beside Rock-weak teammates due to the prevalence of Rock Slide.
Credits
- Written by talkingtree and Checkmater
- Quality checked by shaian, talkingtree, Yoda2798, xzern, and Idyll
- Grammar checked by P Squared, Lumari, and Haund
