Gen 7 Doubles OU: Mega Mence Sand

With the return of SM DOU to the ladder, I decided to build something with Mega Salamence.

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Rationale for choosing each member and basic description:
Salamence-Mega is a very strong mixed attacker with mono flying coverage. Excadrill was added to the team next as a strong, fast ground type that takes care of the electric and steels that plague Salamence. Tyranitar was a natural partner to Excadrill, and has utility as a specially defensive stealth rock and sand setter that also offers a decent attack stat even when uninvested. The two water types Volcanion and Rotom-Wash were added next, as they are both excellent against the rain teams that threaten the sand core with water moves and Salamence with ice moves. Rotom was chosen for its excellent matchup against both Pelipper and Mega Swampert, as well as for levitate making it a useful partner for Excadrill. Will o Wisp is also a fantastic support move, and pivot moves are also welcome. Volcanion was chosen because it has an excellent ability in Water Absorb, which allowed it to take on other members of rain teams such as Ludicolo and Kingdra. Being neutral to both of their secondary stabs also helped. The core of Volcanion and Excadrill also remove almost all of the steel types that annoy Salamence; Ground is super effective on many steels, and the steels neutral or immune to ground like Ferrothorn or Celesteela do not want to switch into fire. Finally, Tapu Lele was added to the team as Psychic and Fairy coverage help shore up some weaknesses; namely the sand core's weakness to fighting and Salamence's weakness to dragon. The excellent utility of taunt preventing status moves as well as Psychic terrain boosting its own Psychic moves as well as blocking priority like fake out also help.

The team and their sets:

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6.02214076 × 1023 (Excadrill) @ Groundium Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Protect

Basic Excadrill set with Groundium Z for a high powered Tectonic Rage. Notably OHKOs Incineroar even at -1 attack. Blows apart a lot of steel types that mence struggles with, and removes Heatran and some of the steels that Volcanion can struggle with.
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hug me (Tyranitar) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Protect

Spdef Tyranitar which sets sand for Excadrill. I chose to invest heavily into its special bulk because it has decent defense and attack, while shoring up its weaker special defense stat which is also then boosted by the sand. Stealth rock is quite a good move in DOU, and rock slide and crunch are for stab. Protect is in the last slot to keep it safe from attacks. Berry used for longevity.
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Zephyr (Salamence) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 180 Atk / 76 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Double-Edge
- Hyper Voice
- Tailwind
- Protect

Standard mixed mence set from Smogon. It's good because of tailwind as well as its ability to use strong physical stab as well as a decently hard hitting spread special move. Intimidate is used as a pre mega ability because of how good it is in doubles, and because moxie boosts are hard to obtain in base form.

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Smudger (Volcanion) @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 236 HP / 116 SpA / 32 SpD / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Substitute
- Protect

Standard Volc set, heat wave for spread fire damage, steam eruption for strong water damage and a chance to burn. Substitute is used to take advantages of opponent protects or switches, and makes Volcanion even harder to take down. Berry used for longevity.
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Pinky (Tapu Lele) @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Protect

Life Orb Lele is a powerful breaker, and can handle other dragons that may trouble mence, such as Kommo-o, which it can OHKO before a boost. Psyshock is used for its ability to break special walls, such as Blissey better, and psyshock also helps shore up the double fighting weakness on the team. Taunt is used to prevent opponent setup, especially trick room.
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Washington (Rotom-Wash) @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 76 SpA / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Washtom is an interesting Pokemon with some valuable resistances, immunities, and tools. A ground immunity makes it a great earthquake partner for Excadrill, and makes it an excellent check to Mega Swampert in conjuction with its water resistance. Additionally, the electric typing helps to scare out the Pelipper often accompanying it. Furthermore, will-o-wisp is an excellent tool for weakening physical attackers, especially with mence's intimidate. This especially helps Tyranitar, who already has excellent special bulk from investment and/or sand. Berry used for longevity.

Export: https://pokepast.es/05a7f2dbdd51ce72

Let me know what you thought of the team! I'm open to any suggestions or ideas.
 
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I really like the concept of this team. The core of Salamence + Excadrill is really nice, with Excadrill's offensive typing complementing Salamence fantastically. Ground + Flying covers a lot, and Excadrill's Steel typing also helps out against the ever-annoying Ice- and Fairy-types who threaten big damage to Salamence. The rest of the team flows logically from there, with some great tried-and-tested cores like Tyranitar + Excadrill + Tapu Lele.

The biggest concern I have for this team is Tapu Fini. Rotom's Volt Switch is the only move across the team which can hit Fini for supereffective damage, but switching Rotom out makes it not the most spammable offensive move. Normally a setup sweeper can also serve as a good answer to Fini, whose primary game plan is often to tank hits and sometimes set up. However, the water-weak Excadrill isn't going to be doing much as a Fini counter. My solution to this is to add Sludge Bomb over Subsitute on Volcanion. Dropping Substitute does hurt Volcanion's survivability, and ability to punish defensive options like protect and switching. However, I believe that Sludge Bomb fills a more important role on the set, and it's the only move that can realistically be replaced here. Out of everything on your team, Volcanion is the most suited to be the Fini answer - it has Water Absorb and resists Fairy. Rotom, who could theoretically hit it hard with Thunderbolt, can't afford to give up a move slot for it. Here I adjust the EVs to match the Smogon All-Out Attacker set, since this is not EV'd for Substitute durability. This also gives the team a somewhat better matchup into the two rarer Swift Swim sweepers, Kingdra and Ludicolo, the latter of whom is hit hard by supereffectivie Sludge Bomb.

That's really the only change I would propose! I would also like to say that I do like running Protect on each mon for this team style, as it's a good way to soft check Trick Room without needing a hard defensive Trick Room check slowing down this quite aggressive team, and without having to rely excessively on Tapu Lele being on the field and getting off a Taunt at the right time. Regardless of some hard choices, like Sludge Bomb or Sub on Volcanion, I think that keeping Protect is worth it.

https://pokepast.es/b42913950db5fa45
Good luck and good laddering!
 
I've been having a lot of success with sludge bomb, and it's nice to have a tool to hit certain mons with neutrally and potentially fish for a poison.

This is the final version for future reference; I switched out swords dance for rock slide for the coverage to hit Zapdos and because Excadrill is relatively frail, and I gave Tyranitar a mago berry to increase the chance of confusing the tier's bug bite users (Thanks for the berry rant Veecy)

Final Team
 
I've been having a lot of success with sludge bomb, and it's nice to have a tool to hit certain mons with neutrally and potentially fish for a poison.

This is the final version for future reference; I switched out swords dance for rock slide for the coverage to hit Zapdos and because Excadrill is relatively frail, and I gave Tyranitar a mago berry to increase the chance of confusing the tier's bug bite users (Thanks for the berry rant Veecy)

Final Team
I was heavily debating including a Berry Rant reference about Tyranitar. I didn't think Smogon was ready for that. I also agree that Rock Slide over SD is a good choice for Excadrill.
 
I was heavily debating including a Berry Rant reference about Tyranitar. I didn't think Smogon was ready for that. I also agree that Rock Slide over SD is a good choice for Excadrill.
One day the berry uprising will begin, and Smogon will absolutely not be ready
 

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