Howdy! I've been doing work on this team centered around Mega Altaria for a while now; however, I feel I've reached a roadblock in troubleshooting this team, so I decided to come to the RMT forum to get some pointers.
I decided to start off with the blue man group: Altaria, Manaphy, and Lati, which serve as my offensive core. Lati provides immediate power while Manaphy serves as a stallbreaker. Altaria serves as my late-game sweeper. Manaphy + Altaria also add the utility of dual set-up sweepers (you'll see).
I decided that I should try and establish some sort of semi-defensive core or type synergy as well as an offensive pivot. To complete my Fairy-Steel-Dragon core, I added CB scizor for its U-turn pivoting, hard hitting stats, and priority in the form of bullet punch
I came to the conclusion that the team lacked ANY sort of hazard setup or defensive mons in general. Landorus-T seemed to be the perfect choice. Lando forms a u-turn core with scizor, can set-up hazards, and will serve as my main check to t-flame (you'll see why this becomes a problem).
This sixth slot of the team has been the most static since I've built the team. Nonetheless, I put physically defensive Volcarona here just to try it out. Volc is meant to come in on physical attackers and pressure them with the solid 30% chance for a burn. Volc can then set-up with quiver dance and try to wreck havoc.
Yes, I realize there are a lot of problems with this team immediately from team preview. I'll explain what's so effective and what's not.
チルタリス - メガ (Altaria-Mega) @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Roost
Standard Offensive Mega Altaria. Just to explain the spreads, I maxed out attack to make sure Altaria unleashes as much wrath as possible in every attack. 204 Spe EVs will allow Malt to hit 406 after a DD allowing me to outspeed everything up to base 135 (Mega Lopunny and Manectric). I just dumped the 52 remaining EVs into HP for more bulk. Frustration and Earthquake give practically perfect offensive coverage and roost is to heal up any damage on a passive opponent.
Problems:
- Nothing here, Altaria itself is self-sufficient as long as fat steels and fairies are gone. Scizor is the main problem for it, but that's why I have volc for burns.
マナフィ (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
3 Attacks + TG Manaphy. This thing hits like a
. Set is pretty self explanatory, EVs give Manaphy the most speed while attempting to keep it bulky enough so that it can set up. Tail Glow sends Manaphy's SpA out the roof. Scald is for fetching for burns, Ice beam hits dragons hard, and Energy ball is for picking off Rotom-W.
Problems: I can't get her to set-up enough. I think it may be that she's just too slow to get done what I want her to get done. She also suffers from a little bit of 4 moveslot syndrome. She loses to ferro without HP [Fire], loses to M-Venusaur without Psychic, and she can't save herself from statuses if she doesn't have rain dance.
ラティオス (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog
In the midst of a team of set-up sweepers, Latios provides immediate power. LO Draco Meteors do a helluva lot to anything (except ferro or every other steel and fat blob that exist). Psyshock bops specially defensive walls on their weaker physical defense (like the fat blobs). Roost is for longevity since this team is bulky offense. Defog is for getting rid of those rocks that threaten Altaria before mega evolving and Volcarona.
Problems: This set is pretty self explanatory so there doesn't seem to be much to change. EQ is possible over roost to hit Heatran, but so far, the longevity provided by roost seems to be more effective.
ハッサム (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Superpower
Choice band Scizor. This thing indirectly gives the team SO much. U-turn lets scizor pivot out and maintain momentum while hitting extremely hard with the choice band. Bullet punch serves as the team's single source of priority, Knock off can get rid of eviolites from fat things that normally wall this team to hell, and superpower can hit steels and chansey.
Problems: Get's wrecked by anything that can protect stall. Protect allows my opponent to see my play or prediction of choice and then I lose my momentum to protect. Unfortunately this is just a side-effect of using choice items. so this really can't be alleviated.
ウルガモス (Volcarona) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Roost
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
Physically defensive volc. Volc's purpose is to spread burns with flame body while being able to capitalize on any momentum lost by my opponent due to burns by setting up with quiver dance. Fiery dance and Giga drain give decent coverage though it renders Volc extremely weak to heatran. Roost is to keep volcarona healthy and let it keep giving out those burns. Volc is the gift that keeps on giving.
Problems: I start questioning my thought process here. First, Physically defensive volc is really not as bulky as you think. Volcarona is simply not a naturally bulky pokemon so it relies on burns and constant roosting to maintain its health. Volc also has a terrible stealth rock weakness (the bane of fire types). Finally, Volc is complete t-flame setup fodder.
ランドロス (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 240 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Landorus, my stealth rocker and momentum maintainer. He also serves as my T-flame check (not). This is simply a physically defensive landorus-t. EQ murders steels, Stone Edge gives me a chance at beating non-will o wisp variants of tflame. and U-turn is my slooooooooooow pivot.
Problems: WoW talonflame. If my opponent has this. I have no choice but to forfeit. Nothing here can beat it except for an unusually healthy manaphy.
Threatlist:
: If it's SD or CB variants, I might be able to survive. If it's SpD variant with WoW and bulk up. I lose. automatically. This is the main problem that needs to get fixed.
: Generally, fast special attackers destroy this team. Evidently, I have no specially defensive wall. I've tried SpD rotom-w over manaphy before, but nothing has been able to adequately deal with special attackers (the listed are just examples). Hoopa-U has honorable mention just because if it comes in on me. I have to sack something so scizor can come in and get rid of it. Serp also has honorable mention just because it can literally set-up on anything including volcarona and then kill my entire team if Altaria isn't healthy enough.
This team used to do a lot of work, however due to the recent over usage of steel types and t-flame to counter Zard-X (only T-flame really can revenge Zard-X, steel types kinda just get melted), this team has been seeing a lot of trouble and I really want to bring it back to its former glory.
Anyways, I will be testing this team over the next few weeks to see if I can figure anything else out, but in the mean time, I'm hoping that my frens here can help point out what might fix the core weaknesses of the team and better candidates to glue the team together
Thanks for reading!
I decided to start off with the blue man group: Altaria, Manaphy, and Lati, which serve as my offensive core. Lati provides immediate power while Manaphy serves as a stallbreaker. Altaria serves as my late-game sweeper. Manaphy + Altaria also add the utility of dual set-up sweepers (you'll see).
I decided that I should try and establish some sort of semi-defensive core or type synergy as well as an offensive pivot. To complete my Fairy-Steel-Dragon core, I added CB scizor for its U-turn pivoting, hard hitting stats, and priority in the form of bullet punch
I came to the conclusion that the team lacked ANY sort of hazard setup or defensive mons in general. Landorus-T seemed to be the perfect choice. Lando forms a u-turn core with scizor, can set-up hazards, and will serve as my main check to t-flame (you'll see why this becomes a problem).
This sixth slot of the team has been the most static since I've built the team. Nonetheless, I put physically defensive Volcarona here just to try it out. Volc is meant to come in on physical attackers and pressure them with the solid 30% chance for a burn. Volc can then set-up with quiver dance and try to wreck havoc.
Yes, I realize there are a lot of problems with this team immediately from team preview. I'll explain what's so effective and what's not.
チルタリス - メガ (Altaria-Mega) @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Roost
Standard Offensive Mega Altaria. Just to explain the spreads, I maxed out attack to make sure Altaria unleashes as much wrath as possible in every attack. 204 Spe EVs will allow Malt to hit 406 after a DD allowing me to outspeed everything up to base 135 (Mega Lopunny and Manectric). I just dumped the 52 remaining EVs into HP for more bulk. Frustration and Earthquake give practically perfect offensive coverage and roost is to heal up any damage on a passive opponent.
Problems:
- Nothing here, Altaria itself is self-sufficient as long as fat steels and fairies are gone. Scizor is the main problem for it, but that's why I have volc for burns.
マナフィ (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
3 Attacks + TG Manaphy. This thing hits like a
Problems: I can't get her to set-up enough. I think it may be that she's just too slow to get done what I want her to get done. She also suffers from a little bit of 4 moveslot syndrome. She loses to ferro without HP [Fire], loses to M-Venusaur without Psychic, and she can't save herself from statuses if she doesn't have rain dance.
ラティオス (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog
In the midst of a team of set-up sweepers, Latios provides immediate power. LO Draco Meteors do a helluva lot to anything (except ferro or every other steel and fat blob that exist). Psyshock bops specially defensive walls on their weaker physical defense (like the fat blobs). Roost is for longevity since this team is bulky offense. Defog is for getting rid of those rocks that threaten Altaria before mega evolving and Volcarona.
Problems: This set is pretty self explanatory so there doesn't seem to be much to change. EQ is possible over roost to hit Heatran, but so far, the longevity provided by roost seems to be more effective.
ハッサム (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Superpower
Choice band Scizor. This thing indirectly gives the team SO much. U-turn lets scizor pivot out and maintain momentum while hitting extremely hard with the choice band. Bullet punch serves as the team's single source of priority, Knock off can get rid of eviolites from fat things that normally wall this team to hell, and superpower can hit steels and chansey.
Problems: Get's wrecked by anything that can protect stall. Protect allows my opponent to see my play or prediction of choice and then I lose my momentum to protect. Unfortunately this is just a side-effect of using choice items. so this really can't be alleviated.
ウルガモス (Volcarona) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Roost
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
Physically defensive volc. Volc's purpose is to spread burns with flame body while being able to capitalize on any momentum lost by my opponent due to burns by setting up with quiver dance. Fiery dance and Giga drain give decent coverage though it renders Volc extremely weak to heatran. Roost is to keep volcarona healthy and let it keep giving out those burns. Volc is the gift that keeps on giving.
Problems: I start questioning my thought process here. First, Physically defensive volc is really not as bulky as you think. Volcarona is simply not a naturally bulky pokemon so it relies on burns and constant roosting to maintain its health. Volc also has a terrible stealth rock weakness (the bane of fire types). Finally, Volc is complete t-flame setup fodder.
ランドロス (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 240 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Landorus, my stealth rocker and momentum maintainer. He also serves as my T-flame check (not). This is simply a physically defensive landorus-t. EQ murders steels, Stone Edge gives me a chance at beating non-will o wisp variants of tflame. and U-turn is my slooooooooooow pivot.
Problems: WoW talonflame. If my opponent has this. I have no choice but to forfeit. Nothing here can beat it except for an unusually healthy manaphy.
Threatlist:
: If it's SD or CB variants, I might be able to survive. If it's SpD variant with WoW and bulk up. I lose. automatically. This is the main problem that needs to get fixed.: Generally, fast special attackers destroy this team. Evidently, I have no specially defensive wall. I've tried SpD rotom-w over manaphy before, but nothing has been able to adequately deal with special attackers (the listed are just examples). Hoopa-U has honorable mention just because if it comes in on me. I have to sack something so scizor can come in and get rid of it. Serp also has honorable mention just because it can literally set-up on anything including volcarona and then kill my entire team if Altaria isn't healthy enough.This team used to do a lot of work, however due to the recent over usage of steel types and t-flame to counter Zard-X (only T-flame really can revenge Zard-X, steel types kinda just get melted), this team has been seeing a lot of trouble and I really want to bring it back to its former glory.
Anyways, I will be testing this team over the next few weeks to see if I can figure anything else out, but in the mean time, I'm hoping that my frens here can help point out what might fix the core weaknesses of the team and better candidates to glue the team together
Thanks for reading!
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