This is an updated version of my original XY Mega Heracross team. Any fixes, comments and likes are greatly appreciated.
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS
So I start with Mega Heracross as he's who I intended to build the team around. Simply put he's the wallbreaker. He's fast enough to outrun most of the common walls in OU and get at least 2HKO's on all of them all the while being able to stomach many of their most common attacks in return.
Next up was Heatran and he provides such good synergy with Heracross, resisting Psychic, Flying and Fairy, while Heracross shrugs of those Fighting and Ground attacks that Heatran despises. Heatran also acts as my Hazard Setter.
Originally I had Latias in the team, however I decided I needed something more bulky that I could use for speed control. After much debating I chose Cresselia.
Gyarados was some what of any odd choice for me to replace AV Azumarill with, but one I felt necessary at the time due to the fact I needed something that could not only act as a semi reliable check to the most common Greninja set at the time but also check the likes of Keldeo, the two main things I used AV Azumarill against.
Bisharp, All in all one of those pokemon that can fit on almost any team. It takes on and defeats a lot of what troubles my other teammates. Nothing less that the true workhorse of the team.
And finally we have Landorus-T, again something that fits well on almost any team and puts in a lot of work.
The Team In-Depth
Heracross@Heracronite
Adamant 24HP/252Atk/232 Speed
Close Combat
Bullet Seed
Rock Blast
Pin Missile
Play testing CelticPride's set suggestion
A devastating Wallbreaker that can 2HKO the likes of Skarmory and does 2HKO the likes of Hippowdon, Suicune (Scald burn dependent), Defensive Zapdos, Defensive Rotom-W and Defensive Mega Venasuar. And basically it outright murders pretty much anything else on the Hyper Offence side that It can take hit hit from. A lot of Heracross' use Jolly 252 speed, but I felt that being able to outrun/speed tie with +Speed nature base 85 and under prior to Mega Evo (and +Speed Base 70's after) was not much of a concern, as Heracross is not usually threatened by many of the common OU pokemon and sets in the Base 70-80 speed bracket (except Gardevior, but I've other ways of dealing with that.) I simply went with Adamant 252 Atk to maximise it's power and enough EV's to outrun Defensive Zapdos and Jolly unboosted Tyranitar, with a tiny cushion in bulk with the HP EV's. Close Combat is it's main STAB move capable of 2KHO'ing Skarm (I think this fact should make Brave Bird an essential move on Skarm tbh). Pin Missile is there to devastate things such as Tyranitar when Close Combat is not the best option, as well as 2HKO'ing Mega Venasuar and murdering Celebi's. Bullet Seed is used to destroy Rotom-W, Azumarill, Quagsire, Suicune, e.t.c. Rock Blast decimates Zapdos, cocky Mega Pinsir players, Charizard (again prediction only)and Dragonite.
Heatran (T-90) Leftovers
IV's: 0 Atk
Calm 248 HP/16 Sp Attack/244 Sp Def
Lava Plume
Stone Edge (changed from Flash Cannon)
Roar
Stealth Rock
Pretty much your average Sp Def Heatran, so I'm not going to go all long winded with this description. Lava Plume/Flash Cannon offers dual STAB and Lava Plume's extra chance to cripple physical attackers with a burn. Flash Cannon hit's fairies but I'm trying out Taunt,Toxic and Earth Power to see if any of them fit better. Roar was mainly added to stop SD Talonflame, but it helps deal with other setup as well. Finally Stealth Rock acts as passive damage.
Cresselia (GALADRIEL) Leftovers
Bold 248HP/132Def/128 Sp Def
Psychic
Thunder Wave
Moonlight
Lunar Dance (play testing Reflect/Light Screen
I've always liked Cresselia, so when it came to finding something bulky to replace Latias, Cresselia was the first thing that popped into my head. I tried the standard Bold 252HP/252 Def but when play testing it put me in a more difficult position when switching into the likes of Keldeo, Special Greninja e.t.c so I needed an EV spread that gave Cresselia to be a reasonable mixed wall. Cresselia's primarily checksthe likes of Landorus-I, Keldeo, and other notable hard hitters. Thunder Wave cripples fast and frail pokemon so that Mega Heracross can have an easier time cleaning later, Psychic offers consistent STAB, Moonlight for recovery and finally Lunar Dance when Cresselia has to sacrifice itself to heal a team member late game to hopefully win the game.
Note: I've been toying with the idea of replacing Cresselia with either Umbreon or Slowbro. Currently play testing both trying to find optimal sets. Any thoughts appreciated.
Gyarados (GARRADOR) Leftovers
Adamant 88 HP / 192 Atk / 4 Def / 224 Speed
DD
Waterfall
Substitute
Bounce
Standard Bulky DD Gyra. I needed a decent offensive presence that could check/exploit the more common Greninja sets as well as Keldeo and I found a pretty good answer. Checking defensive Gliscor was also something I needed, as Azumarill couldn't do that particularly well. Sub/DD is terribly threatening for the unprepared. Waterfall/Bounce offer dual STAB that can threaten M-Venasaur/Celebi and most other Grass Types, something Azumarill couldn't do.
Note: Now Greninja is being Suspect Tested, and because I feel Gyarados is probably the main weak link, I am thinking of replacing Gyarados with Clefable, to offer me a more reliable Gliscor check as well as taking on M-Sableye. Thoughts are much appreciated.
Bisharp (SHARPIE) black Glasses
Adamant 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Speed
Knock Off
Swords Dance (play testing Low Kick )
Iron Head
Sucker Punch
What a supporter of Heracross this thing is, taking on a lot of the offensive checks that Heracross has with aplomb. It can Knock off to take away a precious item, it can destroy fairies such as Clefable and Slyveon with Iron Head, It can pick of weakened pokemon with Sucker Punch. There isn't a lot it can't do! Swords Dance was placed on Bisharp over Pursuit to put pressure on the switches that do occur, and based on experience, Pursuit hasn't always been the best choice of move and feels fairly deadweight most of the time.
Landorus-T Choice Scarf
Adamant 44HP/252Atk/212 Speed
EQ
Stone Edge
U-Turn
Superpower
The other workhorse on my team. Landorus-T acts as a good revenge killer and momentum gainer. Although not quite as bulky as it's defensive variant, it still does well in matchups VS Excadrill/Terrakion e.t.c. due to Intimidate. EQ/Stone Edge is the standard combo that hit a lot of things hard. U-Turn is usually my get out of jail card in tight spots and gains me momentum on the opponents switches. Superpower is there to revenge kill +1 Adamant max Speed and Bulky +1 Mega Gyarados'.
Importable
GARRADOR (Gyarados) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 88 HP / 192 Atk / 4 Def / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
GALADRIEL (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonlight
- Thunder Wave
- Lunar Dance
SHARPIE (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
CALRISSIAN (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
SOLO (Heracross) (M) @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pin Missile
- Close Combat
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
T-90 (Heatran) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpA / 244 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
THREAT LIST
For the sake of simplicity i'll write about how I deal with (or don't as cases maybe) certain playstyles and individual pokemon.
Playstyles
1)Dedicated Trick Room Teams: Yeah I'm not going to lie I don't really have any answers to deal with them, although I have admittedly only ever encountered two of them since I started playing Showdown and only one with this particular team.
2) Stall: Generally it depends on the team. Your typical Mega Venasuar/Chansey/Heatran core doesn't phase me one bit because Heracross wipes the floor with all of them. Heracross deals with Slowbro and Quagsire as well. Heatran and Bisharp can both be used to destroy/cripple Doublade, Unaware Clefable e.t.c.. Teams that have Sub/Protect/Toxic Gliscor and Mega Sabelye can be somewhat annoying. Generally Stall is quite a favourable match up for me tbh.
3) Bird Spam: Keep SR up. Heatran walls most Talonflame. Scarf Landorus/Gyarados can Intimidate and possibly revenge kill. Cresselia can T-Wave to potentially stop them attacking/recovering.
4)Hyper Offence: Keep SR up, predict and overcome. Cresselia can T-Wave most offensive frail threats.
INDIVIDUAL POKEMON
Mega Sableye: A pain to say the least. Heatran can take on non CM Variants ok providing it get's a burn with Plume. CM Variants are the sole reason why I want to put Magic Guard/Unaware Clefable on the team. The only slightly good bit of news is that it loses Prankster on M-Evo, but then again it prevents me stalling it with Toxic <.<
Gliscor: Totally frustrating to deal with if it activates Toxic Orb. Gyarados can check the more defensive builds but struggles against the speedier ones. A lucky Knock Off/Burn is always nice. Mostly it's bludgeoning the thing to death.
Anymore threats you can see feel free to suggest possible checks/counters to them.
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS
So I start with Mega Heracross as he's who I intended to build the team around. Simply put he's the wallbreaker. He's fast enough to outrun most of the common walls in OU and get at least 2HKO's on all of them all the while being able to stomach many of their most common attacks in return.
Next up was Heatran and he provides such good synergy with Heracross, resisting Psychic, Flying and Fairy, while Heracross shrugs of those Fighting and Ground attacks that Heatran despises. Heatran also acts as my Hazard Setter.
Originally I had Latias in the team, however I decided I needed something more bulky that I could use for speed control. After much debating I chose Cresselia.
Gyarados was some what of any odd choice for me to replace AV Azumarill with, but one I felt necessary at the time due to the fact I needed something that could not only act as a semi reliable check to the most common Greninja set at the time but also check the likes of Keldeo, the two main things I used AV Azumarill against.
Bisharp, All in all one of those pokemon that can fit on almost any team. It takes on and defeats a lot of what troubles my other teammates. Nothing less that the true workhorse of the team.
And finally we have Landorus-T, again something that fits well on almost any team and puts in a lot of work.
The Team In-Depth
Heracross@Heracronite
Adamant 24HP/252Atk/232 Speed
Close Combat
Bullet Seed
Rock Blast
Pin Missile
Play testing CelticPride's set suggestion
A devastating Wallbreaker that can 2HKO the likes of Skarmory and does 2HKO the likes of Hippowdon, Suicune (Scald burn dependent), Defensive Zapdos, Defensive Rotom-W and Defensive Mega Venasuar. And basically it outright murders pretty much anything else on the Hyper Offence side that It can take hit hit from. A lot of Heracross' use Jolly 252 speed, but I felt that being able to outrun/speed tie with +Speed nature base 85 and under prior to Mega Evo (and +Speed Base 70's after) was not much of a concern, as Heracross is not usually threatened by many of the common OU pokemon and sets in the Base 70-80 speed bracket (except Gardevior, but I've other ways of dealing with that.) I simply went with Adamant 252 Atk to maximise it's power and enough EV's to outrun Defensive Zapdos and Jolly unboosted Tyranitar, with a tiny cushion in bulk with the HP EV's. Close Combat is it's main STAB move capable of 2KHO'ing Skarm (I think this fact should make Brave Bird an essential move on Skarm tbh). Pin Missile is there to devastate things such as Tyranitar when Close Combat is not the best option, as well as 2HKO'ing Mega Venasuar and murdering Celebi's. Bullet Seed is used to destroy Rotom-W, Azumarill, Quagsire, Suicune, e.t.c. Rock Blast decimates Zapdos, cocky Mega Pinsir players, Charizard (again prediction only)and Dragonite.
Heatran (T-90) Leftovers
IV's: 0 Atk
Calm 248 HP/16 Sp Attack/244 Sp Def
Lava Plume
Stone Edge (changed from Flash Cannon)
Roar
Stealth Rock
Pretty much your average Sp Def Heatran, so I'm not going to go all long winded with this description. Lava Plume/Flash Cannon offers dual STAB and Lava Plume's extra chance to cripple physical attackers with a burn. Flash Cannon hit's fairies but I'm trying out Taunt,Toxic and Earth Power to see if any of them fit better. Roar was mainly added to stop SD Talonflame, but it helps deal with other setup as well. Finally Stealth Rock acts as passive damage.
Cresselia (GALADRIEL) Leftovers
Bold 248HP/132Def/128 Sp Def
Psychic
Thunder Wave
Moonlight
Lunar Dance (play testing Reflect/Light Screen
I've always liked Cresselia, so when it came to finding something bulky to replace Latias, Cresselia was the first thing that popped into my head. I tried the standard Bold 252HP/252 Def but when play testing it put me in a more difficult position when switching into the likes of Keldeo, Special Greninja e.t.c so I needed an EV spread that gave Cresselia to be a reasonable mixed wall. Cresselia's primarily checksthe likes of Landorus-I, Keldeo, and other notable hard hitters. Thunder Wave cripples fast and frail pokemon so that Mega Heracross can have an easier time cleaning later, Psychic offers consistent STAB, Moonlight for recovery and finally Lunar Dance when Cresselia has to sacrifice itself to heal a team member late game to hopefully win the game.
Note: I've been toying with the idea of replacing Cresselia with either Umbreon or Slowbro. Currently play testing both trying to find optimal sets. Any thoughts appreciated.
Gyarados (GARRADOR) Leftovers
Adamant 88 HP / 192 Atk / 4 Def / 224 Speed
DD
Waterfall
Substitute
Bounce
Standard Bulky DD Gyra. I needed a decent offensive presence that could check/exploit the more common Greninja sets as well as Keldeo and I found a pretty good answer. Checking defensive Gliscor was also something I needed, as Azumarill couldn't do that particularly well. Sub/DD is terribly threatening for the unprepared. Waterfall/Bounce offer dual STAB that can threaten M-Venasaur/Celebi and most other Grass Types, something Azumarill couldn't do.
Note: Now Greninja is being Suspect Tested, and because I feel Gyarados is probably the main weak link, I am thinking of replacing Gyarados with Clefable, to offer me a more reliable Gliscor check as well as taking on M-Sableye. Thoughts are much appreciated.
Bisharp (SHARPIE) black Glasses
Adamant 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Speed
Knock Off
Swords Dance (play testing Low Kick )
Iron Head
Sucker Punch
What a supporter of Heracross this thing is, taking on a lot of the offensive checks that Heracross has with aplomb. It can Knock off to take away a precious item, it can destroy fairies such as Clefable and Slyveon with Iron Head, It can pick of weakened pokemon with Sucker Punch. There isn't a lot it can't do! Swords Dance was placed on Bisharp over Pursuit to put pressure on the switches that do occur, and based on experience, Pursuit hasn't always been the best choice of move and feels fairly deadweight most of the time.
Landorus-T Choice Scarf
Adamant 44HP/252Atk/212 Speed
EQ
Stone Edge
U-Turn
Superpower
The other workhorse on my team. Landorus-T acts as a good revenge killer and momentum gainer. Although not quite as bulky as it's defensive variant, it still does well in matchups VS Excadrill/Terrakion e.t.c. due to Intimidate. EQ/Stone Edge is the standard combo that hit a lot of things hard. U-Turn is usually my get out of jail card in tight spots and gains me momentum on the opponents switches. Superpower is there to revenge kill +1 Adamant max Speed and Bulky +1 Mega Gyarados'.
Importable
GARRADOR (Gyarados) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 88 HP / 192 Atk / 4 Def / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
GALADRIEL (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonlight
- Thunder Wave
- Lunar Dance
SHARPIE (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
CALRISSIAN (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
SOLO (Heracross) (M) @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pin Missile
- Close Combat
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
T-90 (Heatran) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpA / 244 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
THREAT LIST
For the sake of simplicity i'll write about how I deal with (or don't as cases maybe) certain playstyles and individual pokemon.
Playstyles
1)Dedicated Trick Room Teams: Yeah I'm not going to lie I don't really have any answers to deal with them, although I have admittedly only ever encountered two of them since I started playing Showdown and only one with this particular team.
2) Stall: Generally it depends on the team. Your typical Mega Venasuar/Chansey/Heatran core doesn't phase me one bit because Heracross wipes the floor with all of them. Heracross deals with Slowbro and Quagsire as well. Heatran and Bisharp can both be used to destroy/cripple Doublade, Unaware Clefable e.t.c.. Teams that have Sub/Protect/Toxic Gliscor and Mega Sabelye can be somewhat annoying. Generally Stall is quite a favourable match up for me tbh.
3) Bird Spam: Keep SR up. Heatran walls most Talonflame. Scarf Landorus/Gyarados can Intimidate and possibly revenge kill. Cresselia can T-Wave to potentially stop them attacking/recovering.
4)Hyper Offence: Keep SR up, predict and overcome. Cresselia can T-Wave most offensive frail threats.
INDIVIDUAL POKEMON
Mega Sableye: A pain to say the least. Heatran can take on non CM Variants ok providing it get's a burn with Plume. CM Variants are the sole reason why I want to put Magic Guard/Unaware Clefable on the team. The only slightly good bit of news is that it loses Prankster on M-Evo, but then again it prevents me stalling it with Toxic <.<
Gliscor: Totally frustrating to deal with if it activates Toxic Orb. Gyarados can check the more defensive builds but struggles against the speedier ones. A lucky Knock Off/Burn is always nice. Mostly it's bludgeoning the thing to death.
Anymore threats you can see feel free to suggest possible checks/counters to them.
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