Hi all, just wanted to share my AG team (yes, yes, the AG 'tier' - plagued with swagkeys, arc-spam and sleep abuse). This trusty combination of Pokes helped me peak at 2077, not bad eh? I don't use it much any more, but it clobbers low ladder easily, and maybe can be used as a sample team for new players to get to know the competitive meta a bit better.
Teambuilding Process
Every team needs rocks to break those sashes and put pokes within killing range, so Groudon fulfills this role. With its fantastic typing and whopping 140 base defence, it can hold its ground against any physical attacker in the game, setting up rocks/phazing at its leisure.
The rest of the team are just sweepers and wall breakers. The Rayquaza is most fun, after a single dance (and it has decent bulk to do so, it can choose to dance in the face of a mighty p-ogre), it can easily sweep, and is one of my main wincons. Lumceus is another no-brainer, with the usual SD set to clean up.
The last three slots can be varied a bit, but I've decided the combination of LOM2, LO Yvel and Arc-Poison is the way to go. Mewtwo and Yvel are such powerhouses of the meta, hitting insanely hard on the special side of the spectrum. They can really put in a lot of work against balance and pick apart walls for breakfast. At this point, I was extremely Xern-spam weak, especially scarf variants. Arc-Poison is the glue that holds the team together, providing a very useful fairy resist, able to set up and beat most Xern.
The Team
Doner Kebab (Groudon) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Earthquake
- Roar
My usual lead. EVs pumped into HP and defence to take those physical hits better, with 12 speed to creep uninvested Ogre/Don and has the occasional benefit of outspeeding M-Diancie pre-mevo. Lum Berry means that it can take the upper hand in those tight situations against Rai and Spore-Smeargle. It also helps against fucking swagkeys. Thunder wave is extremely useful to cripple faster threats such as Fairyceus, the predicted Yvel switch in, Darkrai, non-taunt Mewtwo etc. EQ over Blades for more accuracy, there's not that much need for extra power. Roar is obligatory as an emergency check, for Arc that get out of hand, for example.
Rachel (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- ExtremeSpeed
Behold: M-Ray! Probably the single most threatening poke of the tier, and definitely most valuable asset of this team. Max attack, with enough HP EVs for guaranteed survival against +2 Lumceus Espeed even after rocks and a Modest Primal-Ogre Blizzard (OMG). After a dance, it outspeeds modest scarf ogre, which I figure is an appropriate benchmark. Max speed would be nice, but I find the bulk to be extremely useful. Dance to skyrocket its attack, Ascent for STAB (and more powerful than your average garden hose), EQ for great coverage on things like Steelceus, and Espeed for essential priority. M-Ray can beat just about any poke 1v1, and is extremely check to scarf-Ogre.
Coin Flips All Day (Arceus) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Classic Arceus. Dance, Espeed and EQ are necessary, Stone Edge I find more useful to hit Yvel and nudge Lugia that little bit harder. Max attack, max speed and jolly to force coin flips with other max speed Arc, 4 def for that (hardly useful) thing of giving Genesect a sp att download, and lum berry to absorb status once. It has a lot of utility moves like refresh, defog, magic coat, recover etc but really feels the lack of coverage. Though a great late game cleaner, it lacks the power to push through bulkceus and shouldn't really be brought out too early.
Deer Hunter (Arceus-Poison) @ Toxic Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- ExtremeSpeed
Xerneas check x Absolutely necessary, and chosen over Steelceus to also resist Focus Blast. Even uninvested, it can survive a +2 jolly Arc's earthquake and a +2 Psyshock from Xern. Again, the set sort of speaks for itself, this things #1 role is to make sure my team does not get maimed by the Stag. Due to its poor coverage, some double switching may be necessary at times to avoid losing momentum. Unfortunately, when the opponent is not carrying Xern this can be quite a useless poke and instead is used as an aggressive sac to get chip damage on things like bulky yvel or Groudon.
Darkrai Bait (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sleep Talk
- Taunt
I love this thing, so much. With max speed, max sp attack investment and the LO, it hits on the special side like how my father hits me when I misbehave - fucking hard. Dual STAB, Oblivion Wing is nice to heal itself. This thing can be difficult to take down, actually. Importantly, it makes sweet love to Groudon, Lugia and Ghosts (Arc-Ghost and the occasional Gira). Taunt is there for an unwanted Geomancy, or t-wave/rocks from Mr Groudon (and also Darkrai lol). Foul play is possible to stop Arc from sword dancing, but I figure its not that much of a threat and stronger players know better than to set up their own death. Recently, I added sleep talk to better counter Darkrai, and works quite nicely actually since Ygod resists dark pulse.
William Stryker (Mewtwo) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psystrike
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Mewtwo works in much the same way as Yveltal, but outspeeding the entire unboosted meta in return for not hanging around as long. Max speed and sp attack means that it hits hard and fast. Psystrike for STAB (which happens to obliterate the pink blob), beam to hit defensive threats such as Lugia, Grounceus and Giratina as well as Ray a little harder, focusmiss for super effective coverage on normal and steel types. While Aura Sphere has perfect accuracy (useful forcancer Minimise Smeargle), Focus Blast offers a lot more power, and for instance often OHKOs Ekiller after rocks. Shadow Ball would be nice to round things out with coverage on Aegi and opposing Mewtwo, but I feel like taunt is necessary for Xerneas, and to shut down walls like Lugia. It does have a little bulk, and its useful to know it can survive a +1 Adamant M-Ray espeed (from a Ditto), +2 Jolly Lumceus espeed, and Dark Pulse from Darkrai among other things.
Dealing With Some Threats
There are some other powerful threats to experiment with. Team needs to change depending on if people run Darkrai, Xerneas, etc. Decide on what's good and mix it up!
Closing Remarks
After many bad beatings and adjustments, I have tried to put together an HO that covers most threats as possible. Thank you taking the time to read through my post, best of luck with your battles!
Here are a couple of replays against very respectable opposition for proof of peak:
http://replay.showdown.com/anythinggoes-241946105 - Ghostceus, opponent was not on his game
http://replay.showdown.com/anythinggoes-246218452 - features a surprising (?) new set
Frens:
Teambuilding Process
Every team needs rocks to break those sashes and put pokes within killing range, so Groudon fulfills this role. With its fantastic typing and whopping 140 base defence, it can hold its ground against any physical attacker in the game, setting up rocks/phazing at its leisure.
The rest of the team are just sweepers and wall breakers. The Rayquaza is most fun, after a single dance (and it has decent bulk to do so, it can choose to dance in the face of a mighty p-ogre), it can easily sweep, and is one of my main wincons. Lumceus is another no-brainer, with the usual SD set to clean up.
The last three slots can be varied a bit, but I've decided the combination of LOM2, LO Yvel and Arc-Poison is the way to go. Mewtwo and Yvel are such powerhouses of the meta, hitting insanely hard on the special side of the spectrum. They can really put in a lot of work against balance and pick apart walls for breakfast. At this point, I was extremely Xern-spam weak, especially scarf variants. Arc-Poison is the glue that holds the team together, providing a very useful fairy resist, able to set up and beat most Xern.
The Team
Doner Kebab (Groudon) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Earthquake
- Roar
My usual lead. EVs pumped into HP and defence to take those physical hits better, with 12 speed to creep uninvested Ogre/Don and has the occasional benefit of outspeeding M-Diancie pre-mevo. Lum Berry means that it can take the upper hand in those tight situations against Rai and Spore-Smeargle. It also helps against fucking swagkeys. Thunder wave is extremely useful to cripple faster threats such as Fairyceus, the predicted Yvel switch in, Darkrai, non-taunt Mewtwo etc. EQ over Blades for more accuracy, there's not that much need for extra power. Roar is obligatory as an emergency check, for Arc that get out of hand, for example.
Rachel (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- ExtremeSpeed
Behold: M-Ray! Probably the single most threatening poke of the tier, and definitely most valuable asset of this team. Max attack, with enough HP EVs for guaranteed survival against +2 Lumceus Espeed even after rocks and a Modest Primal-Ogre Blizzard (OMG). After a dance, it outspeeds modest scarf ogre, which I figure is an appropriate benchmark. Max speed would be nice, but I find the bulk to be extremely useful. Dance to skyrocket its attack, Ascent for STAB (and more powerful than your average garden hose), EQ for great coverage on things like Steelceus, and Espeed for essential priority. M-Ray can beat just about any poke 1v1, and is extremely check to scarf-Ogre.
Coin Flips All Day (Arceus) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Classic Arceus. Dance, Espeed and EQ are necessary, Stone Edge I find more useful to hit Yvel and nudge Lugia that little bit harder. Max attack, max speed and jolly to force coin flips with other max speed Arc, 4 def for that (hardly useful) thing of giving Genesect a sp att download, and lum berry to absorb status once. It has a lot of utility moves like refresh, defog, magic coat, recover etc but really feels the lack of coverage. Though a great late game cleaner, it lacks the power to push through bulkceus and shouldn't really be brought out too early.
Deer Hunter (Arceus-Poison) @ Toxic Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- ExtremeSpeed
Xerneas check x Absolutely necessary, and chosen over Steelceus to also resist Focus Blast. Even uninvested, it can survive a +2 jolly Arc's earthquake and a +2 Psyshock from Xern. Again, the set sort of speaks for itself, this things #1 role is to make sure my team does not get maimed by the Stag. Due to its poor coverage, some double switching may be necessary at times to avoid losing momentum. Unfortunately, when the opponent is not carrying Xern this can be quite a useless poke and instead is used as an aggressive sac to get chip damage on things like bulky yvel or Groudon.
Darkrai Bait (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sleep Talk
- Taunt
I love this thing, so much. With max speed, max sp attack investment and the LO, it hits on the special side like how my father hits me when I misbehave - fucking hard. Dual STAB, Oblivion Wing is nice to heal itself. This thing can be difficult to take down, actually. Importantly, it makes sweet love to Groudon, Lugia and Ghosts (Arc-Ghost and the occasional Gira). Taunt is there for an unwanted Geomancy, or t-wave/rocks from Mr Groudon (and also Darkrai lol). Foul play is possible to stop Arc from sword dancing, but I figure its not that much of a threat and stronger players know better than to set up their own death. Recently, I added sleep talk to better counter Darkrai, and works quite nicely actually since Ygod resists dark pulse.
William Stryker (Mewtwo) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psystrike
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Mewtwo works in much the same way as Yveltal, but outspeeding the entire unboosted meta in return for not hanging around as long. Max speed and sp attack means that it hits hard and fast. Psystrike for STAB (which happens to obliterate the pink blob), beam to hit defensive threats such as Lugia, Grounceus and Giratina as well as Ray a little harder, focusmiss for super effective coverage on normal and steel types. While Aura Sphere has perfect accuracy (useful for
Dealing With Some Threats
- LO Yveltal (especially with Sucker Punch, ugh goodbye Mewtwo): A big threat, once its in. Helps if its paralysed, but usually a drain war between the Gods.
- Bulky Arc Spam: perhaps the team archetype this team has the most trouble with. Can defog Groudon's hazard, and abuse Will-o-wisp. When facing bulky Arc, once again Yveltal and Mewtwo especially, due to its speed tier, put in a lot of work.
- Darkrai: with the Sub, Nasty Plot set Darkrai is capable of setting up and wiping entire teams. With Lum Berry on 1/2 the pokes, a faster Mewtwo and Sleep Talk Yveltal Darkrai crumbles to this HO.
- Ekiller Spam/M-Ray sweeps: Groudon can soak up hits quite nicely, Ray can usually take out 1.5-2 Arcs, and my own Arceus are both jolly. Unfortunately, the game can often come down to a series of coin flips.
- Scoll: Hehe no toxic spikes for you sir! Groudon leads, sets up rocks, EQs, gets endeavoured in the process. That's ok, Poisonceus comes in and thanks you for your time. In particular, LLW's RMT gets crushed by LO Mewtwo+Yvel offence.
- Xerneas: the deer are powerful animals. 2KO'ing most of the meta is decent, hence why I think fairy resist is necessary. Note Arc-Poison can sweep really punish Xern spam.
- Klef spam: LOL. It helps that Groudon is immune to T-wave, and usually takes a lot of luck for the team to get taken down by swagger given how 1/2 of the team holds lum berry, and taunt helps too.
- Bulky Ghosts: Yveltal says hi :)
- Skarm: same logic here. Skarm is actually quite dangerous, completely walling 2/3 of the team. If the opponent has a Skarm, the special nukes really have to be played very aggresively, and important to keep at least one healthy to hit Skarm. Double switches are key here to wear down Skarm. A useful calc to remember is +1 Ascent doing ~40%
- Lugia: It really helps to get rocks up against teams with Lugia, but in any case Yvel and Mewtwo can both shut it down.
- Ditto: Saving this little piece of scum for last, since it makes play quite difficult. Groudon helps a lot, since it can take hits and retaliate with STAB EQ. Sometimes it helps to Ascent/delay mevo with Ray so that the ditto gets inferior stats. Also useful to know that M-Ray can survive +1 espeed, but ditto cannot due to inferior HP.
There are some other powerful threats to experiment with. Team needs to change depending on if people run Darkrai, Xerneas, etc. Decide on what's good and mix it up!
- Subrai: Duhhhh. Shits on most balance teams, and sets up on non-lum Arceus. I find it has match up problems against HO though ...
- Another Ekiller: Sure, and maybe even with LO or Silk Scarf
- Another Yveltal or Mewtwo: given how powerful these sp attackers are in the meta and how much work they put in, another one may be good
- SD Ghostceus: this thing can be powerful once opposing Yveltal is weakened/removed, since it deals with Ekiller quite nicely and can bully Ditto into doing things it doesn't want ;)
- Xern: Both Geomancy and Scarf sets are great in the meta - highlights weaknesses in unprepared teams.
Closing Remarks
After many bad beatings and adjustments, I have tried to put together an HO that covers most threats as possible. Thank you taking the time to read through my post, best of luck with your battles!
Here are a couple of replays against very respectable opposition for proof of peak:
http://replay.showdown.com/anythinggoes-241946105 - Ghostceus, opponent was not on his game
http://replay.showdown.com/anythinggoes-246218452 - features a surprising (?) new set
Frens:
- Outrage, Pom, Fate, Dilwar and Shrang: you Ubers folks are always really helpful for when I need a set or team for anything. Thanks <3
- Gunner, Semen, Hunter and the general AG community for thrashing me so hard I cry myself to sleep sometimes
- Zangooser, my fellow Aussie pal and sparring partner x
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