SM OU Northern Lights — a Mega Ampharos Thunder Wave + Tailwind team

[737373elj]

theme: night. here we go again.
Oh yeah, don’t need Mind my spelling.
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Northern Lights — a Mega Ampharos team

Introduction:
Hello everybody!
So recently I had been testing a team around Mega Ampharos, the idea of which was inspired by carne esada ’s Mega Abomasnow team. After seeing it, I had an urge to create a team around a low-tier Mega, and my favourite, Mega Ampharos, instantly came to Mind. So I built a team around it, but it doesn’t seem good (but using Mega Ampharos isn’t good anyway), so I decided to see what the people of Smogon would think. Not that there won’t be criticism anyway. So enjoy!
P.S. DO NOT use this team competitively!!! This is strictly quirky, fun and for low-ladder only.

Teambuilding process

This team was originally meant to be a Trick Room team, but having Trick Room around for the entire battle turned out to be too hard. Prisoner952 ’s comments on Ampharos in Trick Room further discouraged me from using Trick Room.

So it was back to the drawing board after the collapse of my Trick Room idea. I now had to start over again.
So let’s talk Ampharos.
So Ampharos main points are it’s ridiculously high Special Attack (just 5 points short of Kyurem-White!!!) and a decent bulk considering it’s and attacker. However, it’s middling Speed makes it rather bad... what could be the solution?

Thunder Wave turned out to be part of the solution. With Thunder Wave, Ampharos had a chance of outspeeding certain mons. The core of Clefable and Ferrothorn came to mind as a hazard-stacking core which could use Thunder Wave, and formed a nice Dragon-Fairy-Steel core with Amphy.

So I then looked at Amphy’s weaknesses (Ground, Ice, Fairy). So the best Ice type counter is Heatran. Just nice counters Fairy’s too!

So now for Ground. Yay let’s just slap Kyurem-B cause I like him and he counters Ground and kills those nasty Physical walls.

But Paralysis ain’t enough for Amphy to outspeed enough Pokemon. AND I need some Speed control. So I got Latios to have Tailwind and Choice Scarf to fulfill both these rolls. And we have the wackiest team ever.

Northern Lights (Ampharos-Mega) (M) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: friendball
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
Also called by me as ‘I am Number 7’ as it sits at the bottom of Speed tier 7.
Ampharos is one of my favourite Megas cause he looks cool. Also, his Special Attack stat is ridiculous, causing Volt Switch to hurt hard and perform feats like taking off ~30% of Jirachi’s HP and even ~65%++ of Toxapex’s HP!!! And that’s just Volt Switch! It’s coverage options are quite strong too.
Sadly for the pink dragon, it is not without its handful of flaws, like its poor Speed leaving it outsped by the entire metagame, bulk that you have to mega evolve in order to attain and moves that are blocked by half the metagame. Ah well, you can’t too much of a good thing...
(P.S. Mold Breaker is interesting in the fact you can switch out of Volt Absorb and Lightning Rod mons.)

Crystal Lights (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: moonball
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
Clefable. This pink fairy needs no introduction ever since the addition of Fairy rocked the entire metagame and sent Clefable soaring to the top of OU, enhancing new addition Mega Metagross to counter it. Although times have changed, Clefable has never fully lost its viability, and even now still has a host of sets to offer, increasing it’s flexibility.
For the purpose of this team however, I opted to run the set with Thunder Wave + Stealth Rock. It isn’t bad in all accounts, but it’s rather passive. Still, it’s one of the most important members of the team.

Flashbang (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Pokeball: pokeball
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn is such a pain. How many times have you gotten pissed at a nasty Ferrothorn killing your team through slow passiveness? (The poll is on top^!) Unless you have Magnezone of course. Anyhow, this Ferrothorn acts as a Spikes setter and Paralyser, and also sets Leech Seed for passive health gain. Ferrothorn is also nice as a mini wall.
There isn’t much else to say. Ferrothorn is rather shy and doesn’t want to talk much.

Glowing Lava (M) @ Steelium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Stealth Rock
Functioning as my back-up Rocker, Heatran also kills pesky Fairy and Ice types that kill Ampharos, as well as attacking other Pokemon intent on killing this team. With the abundance of Dragon-types in the team, I opted for Steelium Z to get rid of Fairies once and for all. This also functions as my main Special Attacker.
I can’t say much else. Isn’t Heatran the god of OU? Lol everyone has to have used it before. You may even have more to talk about it than me!

Aurora Australis @ Icium Z
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: masterball
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Freeze Shock
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
Kyurem-B, recently showing up in a quiz by Smogon, exhibits quite a number of good characteristics. Firstly, good Attack stats allow it to kill Special walls like Chansey, which is a pain for Amphy with its high Special Defense. Secondly, Ice-type moves and a powerful one-time nuke in Subzero Slammer helps against Landorus, Gliscor, and any types weak to Ice in general. Coverage in Electric and Ground is useful too.
However, it’s not without its faults too. Having to rely on an average-at-best Special Attack, exploitable weaknesses in Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel and Fairy, alongside little use of its high Attack stat, limits it’s usefulness.
In all honesty, I’d appreciate feedback on it. I’m not too sure if it warrants a place on my team.

Shooting Stars @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Psychic
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Tailwind
So. The final Pokemon.
Latios isn’t so common nowadays due to the presence of Fairies and Ttar. Nevertheless, it can still be useful on occasion.
Lol definitely not like this though.
So I wanted a Scarfer which can use Tailwind, and I got this set. This hearkens back to the the old days with Gen 6 OU, Scarf + Tailwind. This is basically the Mixed Attacking set with Scarf and Defog replaces with Tailwind.
Actually, I also don’t know if this is a right fit. Should I drop Tailwind support and ought for Defog? Or even go back to the old version and use Scarf Lando-T? Comments on this especially would be appreciated!

Threatlist

... too many to say

Replays

P.S. please PM me with your replays, and I’ll show them here!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-965703980 vs badly constructed OU team, where Ampharos showed its worth
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-966228021 another badly constructed team.

Thanks for reading, and please give helpful comments!

Importable:



Shoutouts to:
carne esada for giving me the idea in the first place
Prisoner952 for helping me with your advice ;)
Ronneberg for following me I don’t deserve it
The people who comment and help to improve teams
The moderators for tolerating my minimodding.

Here’s an additional video if you want:

And here’s a Hairy Potato Cat:

P.S. newbies PLEASE READ THE RULES BEFORE POSTING THREADS​

 

[Ronneberg]

Ronneberg for following me I don’t deserve it

Bruh sound effect 2

But seriously, double Z Mega Ampharos Scarf Tailwind is the spicy shit I'll eat up any day of the week.

 

[Bold School]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't try Trick Room. If making a team around Mega Ampharos is your goal, that is the main way I can think of to make it more effective since it's speed is so bad. Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with Trick Room in OU recently to actually give you a recommendation I would feel confident in. From what I know, it might be a bit difficult to both give it the Trick Room support you need and the ability to clear out opposing ground and fairy types. Either way, you may want to ask someone who knows Trick Room teams better. Then you might actually be able to make the concept of Mega Ampharos sort of viable.

If you aren't interested in that, the other thing you might be able to try is to add Sticky Webs to the Tailwind strategy. I have no idea if you could actually make that concept good. It might be funny, though.

 

[737373elj]

This team was originally meant to be a Trick Room team, but having Trick Room around for the entire battle turned out to be too hard. Prisoner952 ’s comments on Ampharos in Trick Room further discouraged me from using Trick Room.

And I tried Trick Room, but it was too hard keeping it up.

I don’t fancy the idea of Sticky Webs, as they are usually used with suicide leads, and I don’t like that lmao. Always liked every Pokemon to have as much use as as possible.

Will try Sticky Webs tho

 

[737373elj]

Will try Sticky Webs tho

Well, i tried it, and Ribombee didn’t improve my opinion of suicide leads.

 

[Ronneberg]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't try Trick Room. If making a team around Mega Ampharos is your goal, that is the main way I can think of to make it more effective since it's speed is so bad. Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with Trick Room in OU recently to actually give you a recommendation I would feel confident in. From what I know, it might be a bit difficult to both give it the Trick Room support you need and the ability to clear out opposing ground and fairy types. Either way, you may want to ask someone who knows Trick Room teams better. Then you might actually be able to make the concept of Mega Ampharos sort of viable.

If you aren't interested in that, the other thing you might be able to try is to add Sticky Webs to the Tailwind strategy. I have no idea if you could actually make that concept good. It might be funny, though.

A micro trick room engine with Magearna and Stakataka could be very nice

 

[737373elj]

A micro trick room engine with Magearna and Stakataka could be very nice

Yeah that was my original.
You know I ought to get the original idea out and start experimenting. And show you guys xD

Edit: here’s a replay. Get the team importable soon! https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-949188226

Ok yes I have the importable now. Not the best, and would need some refining to work properly.

Importable (Trick Room)

I am Number 7 (Ampharos-Mega) (M) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: friendball
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt

Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Ice Beam
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance

Stakataka @ Rockium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Lonely Nature
IVs: 15 Def / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Azumarill @ Normalium Z
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Fly

Magearna @ Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Calm Mind
- Fleur Cannon
- Focus Blast

 

[737373elj]

I want to inform everybody that I have updated the team so that Latios is holding Soul Dew instead of Choice Scarf.
So please update the importable so you aren't using the old version! Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

 

[Robot7620]

Well, i tried it, and Ribombee didn’t improve my opinion of suicide leads.

It's worth noting Araqanuid exists

 

[Ronneberg]

Well, i tried it, and Ribombee didn’t improve my opinion of suicide leads.

Hey it's better than most people'd think! The power output is greater than expected, Stun Spore support can grant huge amounts of disruption, and Shield Dust lets it cleave right through Fake Out, OHKOing Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny, essentially forcing them out. Overall, in my opinion it and Shuckle are the only two viable Sticky Web users aside from maybe Galvantula considering how incredibly good its Thunder is.

 

[Ronneberg]

It's worth noting Araqanuid exists

Imo Araquanid doesn't really have any notable nieche in OU, it gets outclassed by Crawdaunt and Azumarill in terms of "spamming water moves" (not to mention that Adaptability also boosts Crawdaunt's Knock Off etc. and Azu has many viable different move options, most notably Play Rough coverage) and gets outclassed by Ribombee in terms of Sticky Web utility.

 

[Robot7620]

Imo Araquanid doesn't really have any notable nieche in OU, it gets outclassed by Crawdaunt and Azumarill in terms of "spamming water moves" (not to mention that Adaptability also boosts Crawdaunt's Knock Off etc. and Azu has many viable different move options, most notably Play Rough coverage) and gets outclassed by Ribombee in terms of Sticky Web utility.

Then why are there teams featuring it here, and all relatively successful?

 

[かたわれ時]

Bumping this for elj, who wants this team to at least have one more chance before everything goes into cold storage for SwSh. If the mods refuse to let a friend bump this then screw them, I’ll delete this post. But elj deserves to be able to use his bump.
Elj says that he is allowing people to suggest changes to this team to make it competitively viable, instead of being a wacky meme team.
I’ve noticed while using this team that Kartana (Choice Band specifically) is extremely hard for this team to handle, easily OHKOing every single Pokemon except Ampharos itself (which it 2HKOes) and Amphy may not even be able to survive that if it has got Beast Boosts, while Latios is the only one that outspeeds and OHKOes with Dragon Meteor. The opponent would definitely have Pokemon to deal with that however, and Kartana kills Latios itself with Knock Off.
I have no idea how to allow this team handle Kart better without sacrificing the entire team composition however... you have to live with that I guess. Thankfully, Z-move Kart is far safer as it can’t kill everything so easily.

Mod Edit: no need to be rude, proceed with your bump.