SM OU Psychic Terrain Priority Block + Late Game DDmence Sweep

[7h3 J]

Hi guys, this is a team I threw together and changed around a lot after lots of battles. The idea is to sacrifice Lele mid/late game, to set up Psychic Terrain. Then, Flyinium Z DDmence can come in, not fearing priority, and clean up mid/late game after DD and Moxie steamrolling. Please offer improvements! :)

Read on!

Armaggedon (Tyranitar) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

*Tyranitar is purely for wallbreaking. Any chance he can come in and take little damage/status, I send him in, and then I ram a powerhouse CB attack into the opponent, or their switch.

Handle The Heat (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

*Heatran rounds out some defensive coverage nicely and most importantly, sets up Stealth Rock for my team. Taunt lets him stop defensive strategies revolving around recovery moves, like Synthesis, Roost etc, and stops opposing hazards if in the right situation.

Alpro (Venusaur-Mega) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 232 HP / 160 SpA / 100 SpD / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

*Mega Venusaur is mainly to switch into Tapu Fini, Thundurus, Zapdos, and Rotom-W. I love the spammability of Leech Seed, and when combined with the recovery of Synthesis and Giga Drain, he can be a real nuisance to take down, while providing steady damage. HP Fire is to nail Kartana, Ferrothorn, Skarmory and Celesteela. Celesteela and Skarmory are important to deal with, as they are the prime counters to DDmence (my last Pokemon). HP Fire usually gets these 2 steel defensive powerhouses low enough on health, so that Supersonic Skystrike or Outrage can get rid of them when it's time for Salamence to sweep mid/late game.

Livewire (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split

*He's here to get some offensive momentum with Volt Switch, some DOT going on with Will-O-Wisp, and to shut down physical attackers like Landorus-T. He's also there to cover specific threats, and the Electric/Water typing is a fantastic defensive typing, coupled with Levitate.

Take It Slow (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast

*Tapu Lele is essential for this team, because he's both a Choice Scarf revenge killer, and he's the setter of Psychic Terrain so DDmence has a much easier time sweeping (since Psychic Terrain removes the priority of priority attacks like Bullet Punch and Ice Shard, meaning it's one less thing for Salamence to worry about when sweeping later on). When trying to set up Psychic Terrain for a Salamence sweep, I usually find sacrificing Tapu Lele when he's on low health is the best way to go, since Tapu Lele will leave behind a 4-turn Psychic Terrain for Salamence to utilise.

Ares (Salamence) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fly
- Outrage
- Earthquake

*The star of the show. He's here to sweep mid/late game, and does so very effectively from my experience, should I time the sweep right. Flyinium Z Supersonic Skystrike can let him blow through many mons that would normally stop him, like Tapu Fini. As mentioned before, Tapu Lele helps him sweep a lot because he sets up Psychic Terrain, preventing priority attacks from revenge killing him during his sweep, which is incredibly valuable.




So that's the team, so please if you notice anything that's a huge problem, please let me know! Excadrill with Mold Breaker can be a nuisance to deal with, because Rotom-W takes super-effective damage from Earthquake. I usually have to play mind games with Excadrill by sending Salamence in prematurely, then predicting whether to use Earthquake or Dragon Dance. So if you guys can suggest a way that's better to deal with Excadrill and/or a change to the team so it can deal with Excadrill, that would be greatly appreciated.

Peace,
7h3 J

 

[FlamingVictini]

Hey man, interesting team but I think your core concept has a flaw.

Psychic terrain only protects grounded users from being hit with priority hits. According to bulbapedia: "This terrain has the following effects on Pokémon that are on the ground and not in the semi-invulnerable turn of a move. It prevents affected Pokémon from being hit by moves with increased priority." This means that your salamence is not actually protected from priority moves like Ice Shard and Bullet Punch, so Tapu Lele actually doesn't affect your salamence sweep at all (unless the opponent believes they are unable to hit you with priority even if they can). Even so, Mence and Lele are fine mons to work with.

Banded ttar is nice on this team because your salamence is walled by skarmory, and TTar can possibly grab a 2hko with edge on physdef shed shell skarm and non-full physdef skarms. Your TTar might want to run Fire Punch > Superpower because this allows you to nail mons like Scizor, Ferrothorn, Magearna, (and Skarmory and Celesteela accurately, even though it does less than stone edge), which are all targets you want to weaken or remove for mence to sweep.

Rotom is a solid pivot option on this team as is heatran. Still, your heatran set could use some optimization. Without earth power you are completely walled by opposing heatran, and there is also little point in running max speed then. Since your team is heavily punished by opposing heatran with earth power (such as magma sets) and since flash cannon is generally not an important move, I would recommend running Earth Power > Flash Cannon. I also suggest using Lava Plume on heatran since compared to fire blast it is 100% accurate, has better pp, has a 30% burn chance, and will keep your heatran's set more conspicious (they can't figure out that you're fast and possibly have earth power just from seeing you use lava plume, like they can with fire blast). You don't really need fire blast's power unless you're running like a scarf or specs set.

Finally, I would also consider Amoonguss > Mega Venusaur for some key reasons. For one, your team has sand and no hazard control, so Mega Venusaur can be worn down very quickly and fail to answer stuff it is meant to counter, like Ash Greninja. Amoonguss is much more durable with regenerator, and can allow you to better play around threats like Specs Ash Greninja (if they flinch with dark pulse, u can switch out to Tyranitar and just get regenerator). Spore is also nice to have as it can create setup opportunities for salamence.

If you really like having MVenu and want to keep it, the alternate suggestion I thought of was to use Sand Rush Excadrill > Heatran to provide rapid spin support, change ttar to a stealth rocks lure set (Ice Beam, Fire Blast, etc.), and possibly change Salamence to naive/hasty with Fire Blast > Earthquake to nail skarmory (although you will be more open to celesteela). Such a change with drill as a revenge killer might also give u the room to make tapu lele the shed shell stallbreaking set if you want, since the team is quite weak to stall. I personally think you will find more success with my suggestions for amoonguss > venu, although I thought about how I would change the team to better support Venu if you really want to keep it.

I hope this helps, and good luck with the team! :D

 

[7h3 J]

Hey man, interesting team but I think your core concept has a flaw.

Psychic terrain only protects grounded users from being hit with priority hits. According to bulbapedia: "This terrain has the following effects on Pokémon that are on the ground and not in the semi-invulnerable turn of a move. It prevents affected Pokémon from being hit by moves with increased priority." This means that your salamence is not actually protected from priority moves like Ice Shard and Bullet Punch, so Tapu Lele actually doesn't affect your salamence sweep at all (unless the opponent believes they are unable to hit you with priority even if they can). Even so, Mence and Lele are fine mons to work with.

Banded ttar is nice on this team because your salamence is walled by skarmory, and TTar can possibly grab a 2hko with edge on physdef shed shell skarm and non-full physdef skarms. Your TTar might want to run Fire Punch > Superpower because this allows you to nail mons like Scizor, Ferrothorn, Magearna, (and Skarmory and Celesteela accurately, even though it does less than stone edge), which are all targets you want to weaken or remove for mence to sweep.

Rotom is a solid pivot option on this team as is heatran. Still, your heatran set could use some optimization. Without earth power you are completely walled by opposing heatran, and there is also little point in running max speed then. Since your team is heavily punished by opposing heatran with earth power (such as magma sets) and since flash cannon is generally not an important move, I would recommend running Earth Power > Flash Cannon. I also suggest using Lava Plume on heatran since compared to fire blast it is 100% accurate, has better pp, has a 30% burn chance, and will keep your heatran's set more conspicious (they can't figure out that you're fast and possibly have earth power just from seeing you use lava plume, like they can with fire blast). You don't really need fire blast's power unless you're running like a scarf or specs set.

Finally, I would also consider Amoonguss > Mega Venusaur for some key reasons. For one, your team has sand and no hazard control, so Mega Venusaur can be worn down very quickly and fail to answer stuff it is meant to counter, like Ash Greninja. Amoonguss is much more durable with regenerator, and can allow you to better play around threats like Specs Ash Greninja (if they flinch with dark pulse, u can switch out to Tyranitar and just get regenerator). Spore is also nice to have as it can create setup opportunities for salamence.

If you really like having MVenu and want to keep it, the alternate suggestion I thought of was to use Sand Rush Excadrill > Heatran to provide rapid spin support, change ttar to a stealth rocks lure set (Ice Beam, Fire Blast, etc.), and possibly change Salamence to naive/hasty with Fire Blast > Earthquake to nail skarmory (although you will be more open to celesteela). Such a change with drill as a revenge killer might also give u the room to make tapu lele the shed shell stallbreaking set if you want, since the team is quite weak to stall. I personally think you will find more success with my suggestions for amoonguss > venu, although I thought about how I would change the team to better support Venu if you really want to keep it.

I hope this helps, and good luck with the team! :D

 

[7h3 J]

Thanks heaps for the suggestions FlamingVictini! I made all the changes you recommended, and sacked Mega Venusaur. Amoonguss is doing really well so far - even put HP Fire on him so he can deal with Scizor, Ferrothorn and Kartana :). Havent had a chance to use Fire Punch yet on Ttar, but your reasoning for it seems solid so I changed it. Heatran is great too, and unpredictable as well with Lava Plume :).

Thanks again, and the team has definitely improved :)

7h3 J

 

[7h3 J]

Also, FlamingVictini I'm pretty sure that Psychic Terrain will stop priority attacks from hitting Salamence, as long as the priority move user is on the ground (e.g. Mamoswine, Weavile, Scizor, Zygarde). Psychic Terrain affects all Pokemon on the ground, meaning (correct me if I'm wrong) if the priority-using opponent is on the ground, they will be unable to hit Salamence with a priority move before Salamence strikes.

But I could be wrong...

 

[SovereignC2]

Also, FlamingVictini I'm pretty sure that Psychic Terrain will stop priority attacks from hitting Salamence, as long as the priority move user is on the ground (e.g. Mamoswine, Weavile, Scizor, Zygarde). Psychic Terrain affects all Pokemon on the ground, meaning (correct me if I'm wrong) if the priority-using opponent is on the ground, they will be unable to hit Salamence with a priority move before Salamence strikes.

But I could be wrong...

psychic terrain stops priority moves from effecting grounded mons.