ORAS NU Megas in NU! Finally.

[Shiny Fairymon]

Now that the meta-game has settled down for ORAS, I'm happy to see that NU finally has a few Megas to play with. So, I decided to create a team based around my favourite of the NU tier megas- Mega-Steelix. (Seriously, its design is so cool!)
Anyway, let's go on to describing the team.

Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Dragon Tail

The star of the team. I decided to do a hazard-stacking team with Steelix, hence the stealth rock and dragon tail. Steelix already has incredible physical bulk, so I put its EVs in special defense and gave it a SpD boosting nature. Earthquake an gyro ball are both for STAB, which given Steelix's attack stat, isn't too bad.

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Toxic
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

After deciding on Steelix as my mega, I knew that I was going to need a pokemon that could resist Camerupt-Mega. The pokemon I eventually decided on was a specially defensive Seismitoad, with part of the reason being its good bulk, and part being that it also covered Steelix's water weakness extremely well. Beyond the goal of checking many specially offensive threats, Seismitoad functions as a general support 'mon, being able to spread Toxic and knock off the opponent's items. The attacks Scald and Earthquake were both chosen for STAB.

Granbull @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Earthquake
- Heal Bell
- Roar

Next, I chose a defensive 'mon to deal with any fighting types that might threaten Steelix. Physically defensive Granbull with intimidate works wonderfully for that purpose. It's really an extremely typical set, taken from Smogon, but it does the job alright. Not to mention, having a pokemon with roar really helps on a hazard-stacking team, just in case Steelix is down or needs to switch out.

Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch

For the last of Steelix's weaknesses, I knew I need a 'mon that could switch into a ground-type attack. Not only does Rotom do that with levitate, but it also functions as the spinblocker that every hazard-stacking team needs. The EVs are yet again taken from Smogon- they were suggested for outspeeding Kangaskhan, and Rotom turns out to have good enough defense and speed with them in general. This is a typical defensive Rotom set, able to spread will-o-wisps to significantly hinder physical attackers.

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Spikes
- Seed Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Protect

And of course, I needed a spike-stacker for a hazard-stacking team. After looking at the above 'mons, I had realized that I had a major grass weakness with Seismitoad without any grass resists. So, I chose Ferroseed as my spike-stacker, able to switch into grass-type attackers and set up spikes without worry. Not to mention, it adds yet another physically defensive 'mon to my team.

Mesprit @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam

And finally, Mesprit. While I had plenty of physical attackers, as well as some mixed, none of the other 'mons were dedicated special attackers. I decided to remedy that with a strong choice specs Mesprit. I chose timid nature over modest because specs Mesprit honestly didn't need much more of a boost in attack. And finally, the moveset was chosen because of its general coverage, with there mostly being moves that can do at least neutral damage against most 'mons I switch into.


I've done better with this team than with many of my other teams (definitely better than my first RMT- it was so obvious I was a complete newbie for that one), so I decided to post it to see how it could improve. I'm not quite a noob anymore, but I still recognize that I'm far from a veteran player- probably closer to low-level intermediate.
My main concern with it is that Steelix gets worn down too quickly for my liking, and I was wondering if it might be a good idea to try and fit some wish support on there somewhere- although I'm not quite sure who I'd replace. Does anyone have any thoughts about what could be done to make this team better?

 

[Sablenite]

I'd change ferroseed to a specially defensive variation, as nothing wants to hit it physically with Iron Barbs.
Trick could see usage for Mespirit

 

[Shiny Fairymon]

Thanks! I'll implement those changes and see how it goes.

 

[Ares]

Hi Shiny Fairymon before I get off into the rate, the playstyle you are trying to play just doesn't seem that good in this meta. You are playing a variation of stall which gets absolutely destroyed in the current meta by top tier threats such as Pangoro, Mega Glalie, and Mega Camerupt. Its pretty much impossible to account for all of these threats and the rest of the tier on a stall team right now, and until some of them get the boot I would recommend trying out a different playstyle like Bulky Offense (which can also be spike stacking with Mega Steelix) or Balance. Even with all that said I'm going to do my best to help you account for everything :).

To start off I would like to suggest using a different Spike setter, having Garbodor > Ferroseed would be a much better fit on this team and in this meta. Reason being is that Garbodor has Toxic Spikes which can help check a number of problematic Pokemon that I see giving your team problems. It also gets regular spikes and is all around a great, underrated, spike stacker that can help check wall breaker like Pangoro and Mega Glalie, that I think you should give a whirl. Next up I'm going to suggest switching up your Steelix set and running a rest talk Steelix > Your current Steelix set as right now your Steelix doesn't have the best survivability and is quite easy to wear down. The RestTalk set I'm going to suggest might seem rather odd, but its for maximum phasing and has been shown to work on Pokemon like Zweilous. Next, seeing as I've just taken away Stealth Rock from your team I'm going to have them put on toad and have Stealth Rock > Knock Off / Toxic, its really up to you which one your replace, but one of them should go and Seismitoad should be your dedicated Stealth Rock setter. Lastly I'm not a fan of having Mesprit as your only fastish revenge killing Pokemon, the issue is that there aren't to many good fast special revenge killing Pokemon that would fit in this slot. Stuff like Pyroar makes your team really weak to Ground-types while other things like Jynx are to frail for my liking. I'm going to suggest trying out Liligant > Mesprit as this will not only provide you with a revenge killer with giga drain like Mesprit did, but will also provide a late game wincon for you team, which it is sorely lacking right now. If you do decide to keep Mesprit a better Choice Specs set is: Psychic | Trick | Signal Beam | Energy Ball as this provides the best neutral coverage while still packing utility with Trick and hitting things hard with its STAB.

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet / Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Def / 96 Spe | Impish Nature
Spikes | Toxic Spikes | Gunk Shot | Drain Punch

Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD | Careful Nature
Rest | Sleep Talk | Dragon Tail | Roar / Heavy Slam

Lilligant (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Modest Nature
Quiver Dance | Sleep Powder | Hidden Power [Rock] / Hidden Power [Fire] | Giga Drain

Anyways I hope these suggestions helped ^.^ Hopefully this type of playstyle gets easier in future tier shifts as like I said it can be quite hard to account for every single threat atm.

 

[Fling]

Probably put life orb or e belt over the specs on mesprit because specs really limits its potential as it has amazing coverage moves and having the option to switch up your moves makes it more of a threat than hitting slightly harder. I usually run Psyshock over psychic just to easily knock out hariyama and cryo and other specially defensive mons. Bolt beam coverage isnt really brilliant in nu so youre probably better off using e ball or dazzling gleam or shadow ball due to it hitting more common threats. Hp fighting is better than hp fire if you want to keep the bolt beam coverage as you're hitting more stuff, obviously it wont be doing as much to ferroseed but as dark types are more popular its probably the better option.

 

[Mr.Murkrow]

If you're running Mesprit I'd go Healing Wish > Something Probably Ice Beam b/c Psyshock/Tbolt/EBall hit most things in the tier anyways, and Healing Wish support is super based, and is my favorite utility in NU

 

[Shiny Fairymon]

Thank you all so much! Using Lilligant, I made the ladder! This is the first time I've made it onto the top 500. I'm also using an alternate account to test out some of the Mesprit sets that the others have recommended, so we'll see how that goes. Again, thank you so much for all of your help.