bigtalk
Banned deucer.
As USM is ending, I would like to showcase what I consider to be one of my better builds. I'd made multiple attempts at building a solid CM Darkceus team over the past couple of months, but it was a workshop request that finally inspired me to throw this together; I feel like this is probably the most optimized CM Darkceus team I've managed to create, so this is the one I'll share.
I decided to do some last-minute laddering with this team in an attempt to get #1 before SS went live; as usual, I failed as this goal (I tend to get impatient and make greedy plays at high elo). However, I did manage to peak at around 1780 on a fresh alt within 2 laddering sessions, which hopefully counts for something.
Ok, on to the RMT.
When I build a bulky offense team, I like having at least one check to everything. I really don't like teams that have an autoloss matchup to a particular threat; for me, one of the selling points for bulky offense teams is that they give you maximum flexibility so that you have room to outplay everything. With this in mind, there is a certain formula you have to follow for a CM Darkceus team in order to cover all the threats. It's roughly as follows:
( Darkceus) + (// The Fairy answer) + (// The Groudon counter) + ( Groudon) + (// The Groundceus counter) + (// The water resist)
Here are some notable precursors to this build I took inspiration from that follow this formula:
Nabbed this from PurpleGatorade's UPL team dump
pokeaim used this team during one of his road to top 10 lives (I believe he won against a ferrothorn team with it, which is quite an amazing feat if you look at it)
I was cocky enough to bring this variation with Wacan Berry Toxapex to a recent tour despite having never tested it before. I lost g1, and feeling I needed to "prove" it was decent I brought the same exact team to the next 2 games. lmfao. Ended up losing to Dusk Mane
some other attempts
I finally arrived at the build I'm about to describe after dropping Mega Gengar for Dusk Mane, as Mega Gengar doesn't provide insurance for GeoXern nor is it even able to trap Magearna, which is Darkceus' best counter. (As for Fairyceus, you just beat that anyway if you win a Speed tie and / or Toxic Spikes are down, since it can't outdamage Recover after enough Calm Mind boosts.) Having Dusk Mane as a flying resist means that I'm free to use Ho-Oh > Celesteela as the Groundceus check and not worry about getting 6-0d by Mega Salamence, which lets me take advantage of Magearna / potentially abuse tspikes more easily.
( Darkceus) + (// The Fairy answer) + (// The Groudon counter) + ( Groudon) + (// The Groundceus counter) + (// The water resist)
Here are some notable precursors to this build I took inspiration from that follow this formula:
Nabbed this from PurpleGatorade's UPL team dump
pokeaim used this team during one of his road to top 10 lives (I believe he won against a ferrothorn team with it, which is quite an amazing feat if you look at it)
I was cocky enough to bring this variation with Wacan Berry Toxapex to a recent tour despite having never tested it before. I lost g1, and feeling I needed to "prove" it was decent I brought the same exact team to the next 2 games. lmfao. Ended up losing to Dusk Mane
some other attempts
I finally arrived at the build I'm about to describe after dropping Mega Gengar for Dusk Mane, as Mega Gengar doesn't provide insurance for GeoXern nor is it even able to trap Magearna, which is Darkceus' best counter. (As for Fairyceus, you just beat that anyway if you win a Speed tie and / or Toxic Spikes are down, since it can't outdamage Recover after enough Calm Mind boosts.) Having Dusk Mane as a flying resist means that I'm free to use Ho-Oh > Celesteela as the Groundceus check and not worry about getting 6-0d by Mega Salamence, which lets me take advantage of Magearna / potentially abuse tspikes more easily.
Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Refresh
Darkceus is the team's wincon. The Speed is enough for Yveltal so you can use Recover first before getting Taunted, and Refresh allows it to act as a general-purpose status absorber.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Solganium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Sunsteel Strike
- Morning Sun
Dusk Mane's job is to counter Fairy-types for Darkceus and set Stealth Rock. It also helps out as a Flying resist, preventing Mega Salamence from 2HKOing everything by simply spamming Double-Edge / Facade. In return, Darkceus is able to cover its weakness to Lunala / Mega Gengar. Collectively, both of them are able to wall all of the fast psychics like Ultra Necrozma / MM2Y and co, which lessens the need for speed control on this team.
Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Def / 136 SpA / 52 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Defog
- Shadow Sneak
- Hex
- Dragon Pulse
Giratina-O is the Groudon counter and Defogger, and can act as a soft check to Zygarde / non-Recover Ekiller as well. Dragon Pulse is used to consistently break the Substitute of Zygarde / Ekiller / SD Groundceus. Shadow Sneak is really nice as backup priority against eg. Marshadow or Ultra Necrozma, as the team lacks speed control. The spread lets it survive 2 Eruptions from Groudon and 2 +1 Thousand Arrows from Zygarde after rocks. This is the usual lead against suicide lead offense teams, eg. with Deoxys-S, since you can limit them to one layer of hazards or catch them on a choke (eg. using Taunt first instead of rocks).
Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Toxic
- Recover
Ho-Oh is the team's dedicated Groundceus check, which is important to be insured against since it hits most of our teammates super effectively. It also takes advantage of a lot of Darkceus switch-ins, like Magearna and Choice Scarf Xerneas, and really helps with the stall matchup, often singlehandedly dismantling them once you force Giratina to Rest. Recover helps it stallbreak and offset residual damage from Toxic / Brave Bird recoil / etc, while max Speed is important for hitting Kyogre first with Brave Bird.
You should always go to this first on Dusk Mane too if you don't know the set, since you don't want to potentially give it Weakness Policy boosts with Darkceus and be staring down a +4 Attack +2 Speed Dusk Mane. If they're in fact Ultra, they'll be forced to burst unless they want to take a lot of damage from Sacred Fire, after which Darkceus will be able to threaten an OHKO with Judgment.
This is a nice lead against a lot of bulky offense teams. A lot of people (including me) will look at this team and go "hmm, I see a Giratina and a Groudon which are both very common leads, so I'm going to lead Yveltal since it covers both." If you predict this, you can lead with Ho-Oh and get a free Toxic off on something; if they lead Groudon, then you can always scout for rock coverage by switching to Giratina.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 216 SpA / 40 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Tomb
4 attacks Groudon is really nice for luring things for the rest of the team. Its only counters are basically Giratina / Waterceus, the latter of which teammates can easily abuse, so with proper prediction you can always get a kill. If you think Magearna is going to come in to check Darkceus, just double to this and claim something. The spread guarantees you kill Mega Salamence with HP Ice and there's some investment in Special Defense to take on Kyogre better; since we have a Xerneas counter / secondary water resist elsewhere on the team, the spread is a little more offensively inclined.
I'm really a fan of having HP Ice Groudon alongside Ho-Oh, since it eliminates Zygarde and Mega Salamence. Zygarde, in particular, is problematic for most of the team to handle, so having a lure for it is nice.
Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Recover
Toxapex helps with physical attackers like Ho-Oh / Marshadow / non-Earthquake Ekiller that trouble the rest of the team. I've found Helmet to be the best item here since it can wear down these physical attackers more quickly. Toxic Spikes support is also amazing for our dual Fire-type breakers, since Poison- / Steel-types obviously don't want to switch in on them, for boosting Giratina's Hex, and it also affects a lot of counterplay to Darkceus such as Marshadow / Xerneas / Fairyceus.
No Scald might seem bizarre on Toxapex, but it's pretty important to have Toxic in order to pressure Ho-Oh and Defoggers like Giratina, as well as not being a free switch-in for Groudon. This makes you bait for Steel-types, but the way you deal with this is you double to one of the Fire-types if you think the opponent will predict Toxic and go to their Ferrothorn / Dusk Mane, and get a kill. Also, a very common Dusk set (specially defensive) can't actually touch Toxapex, so if they reveal rocks / Leftovers for example you can simply trade tspikes with them.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1008199795
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1008222497
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009286469
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1008206161
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1008194535-hm3jfysn01ii9rtwjkxiwrlvq5449ntpw
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1008210273
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009313984
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009309692
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009292164
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009300243
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009305480
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1009283871
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-1008189641
Since the team lacks a Fairy-type, a lot of threats that would normally be handled by them are unsurprisingly quite threatening.
Marshadow is problematic for most of the team, since it outspeeds everything and can hit up to 4 team members super effectively. Bulk Up variants even have the possibility to break through Toxapex with the +1 Z-Move. You should get Toxic Spikes up in order to limit it.
Arceus-Dark can't really deal with this properly since it's not running Ice Beam. The closest thing we have to a switch-in is Giratina, which can get hurt by Outrage or Dragon Tail. We're mostly reliant on luring it with Groudon.
The stallbreaker set can potentially break through most of the mons on this team, or Life Orb sets with Taunt if Sticky Web is up. Note that since Ho-Oh is offensive, it takes a lot of damage from Foul Play.
Haven't faced this yet, but SD + Outrage should be able to obliterate this team once Dusk Mane has been weakened.
Ekiller and SD Arceus-Ground are also annoying for most of the team; try to keep Giratina healthy for these, and get Toxic Spikes up. Groudon can prevent Arceus-Ground from setting up on it with Rock Tomb + Overheat.
Marshadow is problematic for most of the team, since it outspeeds everything and can hit up to 4 team members super effectively. Bulk Up variants even have the possibility to break through Toxapex with the +1 Z-Move. You should get Toxic Spikes up in order to limit it.
Arceus-Dark can't really deal with this properly since it's not running Ice Beam. The closest thing we have to a switch-in is Giratina, which can get hurt by Outrage or Dragon Tail. We're mostly reliant on luring it with Groudon.
The stallbreaker set can potentially break through most of the mons on this team, or Life Orb sets with Taunt if Sticky Web is up. Note that since Ho-Oh is offensive, it takes a lot of damage from Foul Play.
Haven't faced this yet, but SD + Outrage should be able to obliterate this team once Dusk Mane has been weakened.
Ekiller and SD Arceus-Ground are also annoying for most of the team; try to keep Giratina healthy for these, and get Toxic Spikes up. Groudon can prevent Arceus-Ground from setting up on it with Rock Tomb + Overheat.
I'm a bit burnt out so don't feel like writing much here :/ Thanks all for reading! Hope you enjoy this team and have a nice day. I'm super excited for gen 8.