SM OU Mega Altaria Tryhard (Balanced)

JadedJellicent · Aug 24, 2017

Introduction

What's good fam? I've returned from bullying RU with stall to showcase a recently released Mega with, arguably, one of the best type combinations, with both defensive and offensive capabilities - Mega Altaria. I was not a big fan of M-Altaria back in ORAS (I still remember using it with Sand Stoutland and Celebi), but decided to give it a go in SM. Even with all the Fairies and Steels running around, Mega Altaria still showed impressive results, capitalizing on the fat and slower metagame.

The Team

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 20 Def / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Facade / Return
- Earthquake
- Roost

Of course, the star of the team. Being Dragon and Fairy helps its Dragon Dance set tremendously this generation, being able to check and situationally force out non-Dazzling Gleam Koko, Bulu, Heatran, Keldeo, Latios, Zapdos and Zard-Y. With its high natural bulk, M-Altaria can capitalize on these switches and set up a DD, or just smash something really hard. While Pixilate was nerfed in SM, an unboosted Facade still dents holes in more balanced and offensive builds. Personally I would run Facade over Return since the power loss isn't that important for a bulky sweeper like M-Altaria, and it turns this set into a decent balance breaker. EQ hits Magearna, Heatran and the occasional Marowak. Roost keeps Altaria healthy throughout the game, especially when rocks are up when it's being sent in before Mega-ing. 236 Speed EVs with a Jolly nature outspeeds the usual Trapper Tran, with the rest dumped into Attack and bulk.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower

You already know! Your boy is coming HOT with that juicy Celesteela, one of the best mons in the tier. So we got the bread-and-butter set here, Leech Seed + Protect, with STAB Heavy Slam and Flamethrower for coverage against Ferro, Scizor and Bisharp. EVs are pretty self-explanatory, max HP with lots of Sp.Def and a little bit of Def. This helps it handle opposing Fairies and soft-check offensive mons like Gren, Keldeo and Pinsir.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch / Earthquake

Next is one of my favorite toys from the days of ORAS, Band Tar. It acts as a switchin to Tran and neutral special mons like Lati and Koko, thanks to the boost from sand. With bulky Steels like Celesteela and Ferrothorn stopping Altaria from sweeping, my love for Banded Dark-types breakers this time takes the form of Band Tar, being able to pretty much 2HKO the entire metagame with Crunch, even denting resisted mons. Stone Edge offers a bit more power, but you already it will miss when you need it the most. The last move is just filler: Fire Punch kills Ferrothorn with least contact, or EQ for just a pretty neutral option to click. Max Atk with Adamant so as to maximize damage output, with the rest put into Speed to outpace more passive and bulky stuff. Magnezone obviously does the job better, but I just like that seeing the that juicy Banded damage.

Toxapex @ Shed Shell
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

And we need something for the tryhards of the community too. Toxapex + Celesteela, you already know, the best defensive core in the game currently. But I have a feeling Game Freak lowered the temperature of Scald this generation so that shit never burns. Shoutout to all the people that switch Zygardes into Scalds and get rewarded for making dumbass plays. Everything else is standard. After typing the sentence above, I just got really mad. Fuck this game.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Defog
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Now for the all purpose mon, back to check everything under 290 Speed like Heatran, Zygarde, Bulu as well as Defog hazards for Altaria. Soft-Boiled for reliable recovery. Ice and Earth Power hits the aforementioned mons, making Mew not deadweight. EVs give it 290 Speed, outspeeding Adamant max Speed Zygarde, while still maintaining enough bulk to eat hits from everything else.

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Fly

Lando-T, a.k.a. the Primal Groudon of OU. There's no reason not to use it unless you're using Gliscor lol. I'm running Flyinium Z with rocks, allowing it to hit M-Venusaur and Tangrowth, paving the way for M-Altaria. EQ and U-turn are pretty standard. I would always run Jolly on these kinds of offensive rocks sets, since Magma Storm is blowing this shit away.

Conclusion

This gotta be my most tryhard team to date, even more than M-Aggron + VinCune. Now that I'm looking back at it, this looks very similar to Zard-Y + Duggy perfection. I'm too lazy to actually make a threatlist, so here we go: Ferrothorn, Zygarde, M-Venusaur, Magearna. School is here so I've not been playing that much, but I've sniped my fair share of OLT players with this.

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 20 Def / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Facade
- Earthquake
- Roost

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch

Toxapex @ Shed Shell
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Defog
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Fly

VictiniSwag · Aug 24, 2017

I really like the look of this team and I am not just saying that to be nice.

Some really quick changes:
- Magnezone > TTar. You even acknowledged that this was a better Pokémon. As I do agree that Tyranitar's damage output is immense and pretty scary, Magnezone can also put out high damage while also checking non-Z Fighting Magearna (which Mew can stall out anyways)

Magnezone @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 140 HP / 192 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon

You could also run Choice Specs if you really wanted to use it as a wallbreaker as well, but generally Assault Vest is just better.

- Wil-o-Miss > Earth Power on Mew. I have no idea why you would not run this. It allows you to threaten every physical attacker in the game (as well as not lose to Zygarde).

Those are all the suggestions I can give. I will definitely play around with this team! Good luck and I hope I was helpful

JadedJellicent · Aug 25, 2017

VictiniSwag said:
I really like the look of this team and I am not just saying that to be nice.

Some really quick changes:
- Magnezone > TTar. You even acknowledged that this was a better Pokémon. As I do agree that Tyranitar's damage output is immense and pretty scary, Magnezone can also put out high damage while also checking non-Z Fighting Magearna (which Mew can stall out anyways)

Magnezone @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 140 HP / 192 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon

You could also run Choice Specs if you really wanted to use it as a wallbreaker as well, but generally Assault Vest is just better.

- Wil-o-Miss > Earth Power on Mew. I have no idea why you would not run this. It allows you to threaten every physical attacker in the game (as well as not lose to Zygarde).

Those are all the suggestions I can give. I will definitely play around with this team! Good luck and I hope I was helpful

Thanks for your words and suggestions. Like you said (and like I said), DragMag has been an effective strategy since the days of yore.
Earth Power on Mew is for Heatran, which is very prominent, since without Tar this team is 6-0ed by Heatran since Mew is walled. Plus most Zygardes lose to Ice Beam Mew 1v1 anyway so that's not really a concern, and no non-Dark physical attacker can dent Mew before taking 10 million damage anyway. So I would recommend using one or the other: Tar + Wisp Mew, or Zone + EP Mew.

Simon_Yellow · Aug 25, 2017

I would change 1 thing:
Altaria: Cloud Nine > Natural Cure helps you deal with all the rain teams in the meta. With facade you dont care about status and because you mega right of the bat most of the time Natural Cure doesnt do anything.

Succes with the team.

JadedJellicent · Aug 25, 2017

Simon_Yellow said:
I would change 1 thing:
Altaria: Cloud Nine > Natural Cure helps you deal with all the rain teams in the meta. With facade you dont care about status and because you mega right of the bat most of the time Natural Cure doesnt do anything.

Succes with the team.

Uh... I don't think that's how Cloud Nine works. It's only in effect if Altaria doesn't mega evolve, plus why wouldn't Swampert just stay in and Ice Punch it in the face. And about Natural Cure, see this: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-615709893 (not that high-stakes of a game, but it does show Natural Cure Altaria acting as a fat counter). I would put like, Ferro on this team if anything to counter rain. Come to think of it, not that bad of an idea...

VictiniSwag · Aug 25, 2017

JadedJellicent said:
Thanks for your words and suggestions. Like you said (and like I said), DragMag has been an effective strategy since the days of yore.
Earth Power on Mew is for Heatran, which is very prominent, since without Tar this team is 6-0ed by Heatran since Mew is walled. Plus most Zygardes lose to Ice Beam Mew 1v1 anyway so that's not really a concern, and no non-Dark physical attacker can dent Mew before taking 10 million damage anyway. So I would recommend using one or the other: Tar + Wisp Mew, or Zone + EP Mew.

I see how you could think Heatran is an issue, but it truly is not as big of a deal as you say.
Magma Storm Heatran is the most common set atm, but Groundium Z trapper is the only one that at a glance of your team looks threatening. Because your Toxapex has a Shed Shell and it cannot be poisoned, meaning you can bait the Groudium Z with a switch into Landorus-T. What this does is not only remove any potential threats to your Toxapex (if they are using Groundium Z, the rest of there team is most likely hard-walled by Toxapex) but it also gives you momentum if they switch into any physical threat to Toxapex (Toxapex is slower, so it will be switched out last and Landorus-T will come in second, getting the Intimidate off on whatever wanted to switch into Toxapex) if they do not have Groundium-Z.

I hope you consider Wil-o Mew and Magnezone after reading this. I truly believe it will help you a lot! n_n

EDIT: I would also recommend switching Toxapex's EVs to max SpDef > the mixed wall set. It gives you a better Charizard-Y aswell as being able to 1v1 Earth Power Heatran better. I forgot to say this before I replied lol