ORAS OU Sylveon Squad! (First RMT)

[delibird=santa]

Introduction
Hi everyone! Before I start, I would just like to mention that, as the title suggests, this is my first ever RMT. Please feel free to point out any mistakes I make in this post; it would be much appreciated!

The Sylveon Squad

This lovely artwork was made by Zerudez btw :3
I've been chilling around 1300 with this team, although I haven't yet made a serious attempt at laddering (since I don't really like laddering) but I can assure you that this team is quite effective, or at least not broken beyond belief. I also want to briefly thank FireMonkeyGamer for helping me out with some aspects of the team.

Mon #1 Sylveon

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire] / [Ground]
- Baton Pass

I decided to build around Sylveon because of the wallbreaking it provides; this is unfortunately its only niche, but it's a pretty cool one. Sylveon shreds most offensive teams if it manages to fire off a Hyper Voice, and its matchup versus more defensively oriented teams is also quite solid. Psyshock provides nice coverage versus poison types which like to switch in on Sylveon, such as Amoonguss and Venusaur. HP Fire allows Sylveon to catch and obliterate Scizor (and Mega Scizor) and potentially Ferrothorn. HP Ground, on the other hand, catches Heatran; quite a big threat to the team. And finally, Baton Pass is a good way for Sylveon to gain momentum when predicting a switch.

Mon #2 Mega Lopunny

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Return

After Sylveon, I decided to add something to take care of steel types such as Heatran, Ferrothorn and Excadrill. Lopunny also provides some speed for the team, as well as improving this team's matchup versus offense. It was a great partner for Sylveon considering Lopunny can break down special walls, whereas Sylveon can destroy physical walls. Return + HJK are great for punching holes in almost anything that walls Sylveon. I then decided to go with Ice Punch on this set, as it allows Lopunny to break through things like Garchomp, Landorus, Gliscor and Tornadus.
​

Mon #3 Jirachi

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Healing Wish

Next up is a nice specially defensive Jirachi. I went with this specific set because it can set up Stealth Rocks which provide some crucial KOs for Lopunny and Sylveon, and it can also heal up threats to potentially give them a second chance to sweep. Jirachi is a great wall, and it's this team's answer to mons like Lati@s, Clefable and Mega Alakazam. As I stated earlier, Stealth Rocks are great for the team as they make it easier for Lopunny to sweep and pressure the opponent. U-turn gives great momentum, and does nice damage to the Psychic types Jirachi checks.

Mon #4 Rotom-Wash

Rotom-Wash @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split

I went ahead and picked Rotom-Wash for slot four. Rotom-Wash is a great pivot, and honestly one of my favourite pokemon to use in OU just because of how much it walls. Rotom-Wash also forms a nice Voltturn core with Jirachi, and this makes it easier to bring in the hard-hitting mons and dent the opponent's team as efficiently as possible. I decided to give it Thunder Wave over Will-o-Wisp. This might seem like a weird choice, but it's definitely worth it considering it allows me to stop Charizard-X from completely obliterating me.

Mon #5 Landorus-Therian

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Good Ol' scarf Landorus. I tried quite a few different sets, but I eventually settled with this set. Landorus is my primary answer to threats such as Charizard-X, Mega Metagross (somewhat) and Talonflame. Landorus also adds to the Voltturn core I mentioned earlier, giving you more opportunities to bring in Lopunny and Sylveon. Other than that, this is pretty much a basic set; Stone Edge provides great coverage, Knock Off allows Landorus to hit stuff like Gengar, as well as providing some utility.

Mon #6 Latios

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Defog
- Roost

And then finally, a nice Defog Latios. Latios provided some great resistances for the team, as well as being able to defog away hazards (which can be problematic considering the Voltturn-y nature of this team). It is also an important check to a lot of pokemon (Keldeo, for example) and thus it's quite important to keep this guy alive. I chose Thunderbolt on this set, as it can kill Skarmory (which this team struggles with otherwise), as well as Slowbro. It also allows it to deal with Gyarados, Tail Glow Manaphy and many other Water types.

Appendix

So that was my first ever RMT; thanks for actually reading it! I hope I didn't make any silly formatting mistakes (if I did please do tell me) and most of all, I hope you guys will be able to provide some useful tips. Down here I'll provide the raw paste data for the team, and list some potential threats.

Raw Paste Data:

http://pastebin.com/uC8ZFLky

(WIP) Threatlist:

Calm Mind Manaphy: This team doesn't really have much for Manaphy; the easiest way to deal with it is to either Thunderbolt it down with Latios, or Hyper Voice with Sylveon. Once it sets up, however, it's practically game over.

Bisharp: Bisharp is another scary pokemon due to the lack of switch-ins on the team. It's best to paralyze it with Rotom-Wash, which will cripple it and hopefully prevent a sweep.

Volcarona: If you see this pokemon and your Landorus is dead; click X. But seriously, Volcarona is superscary once it sets up, so shut it down early (SR Helps a ton here)

(Mega) Scizor: Be careful around this monster! I'm still trying to find easier ways to deal with this thing (any suggestions are much appreciated) since right now, the only way to deal with it is crippling it with Rotom-wash, and then hoping that stops it from sweeping.

 

[Pirouette]

Yo cool team but some things are needed to this team i feel.

Rotom-wash,i would turn this into a scarf keldeo to answer weavile scizor volcarona cm manaphy and bisharp much better,hp bug can be useful for hitting things like latis and slowbro for lopunny.

Latios,i would use psychic over thunderbolt so you are able to beat things like keldeo breloom ect without having to use draco to hit it,that creates a couple problems.They can use that to there advantage and set up with something like scizor and and also it can miss,its better overall to have your stab psyshock on latios when using that team.

Jirachi,i honestly thing magnezone over jirachi is a good idea for the team,it can trap things like Scizor and ferrothorn that annoy your team its also a great water check for the team scarf or specs works fine,if you are worried about latios/latias/diancie i suggest using scarf.

landorus,making this a stealth Rock swords dance or rock polish variant would be great for the team if you are using my suggestions as it gives hazard support and it is a good sweeper for the team.

Thats my rate i hope it helped,if you still want a healing wish mon and you are using my suggestions i suggest using a latias for a healing wish pokemon over latios.

Edit: don't use stealth rock swords dance landorus if you arent using any of my other suggestions.

 

[lightninging]

A very very easy way to improve your matchup versus mega scizor and bisharp is to switch TWave on Rotom to WoW. That's the standard set these days anyway tbh.
Also, I'm gonna have to recommend you do not switch rachi to magnezone. Zone is a niche mon and jirachi brings better bulk and utility. Plus, Scarf Zone doesn't outspeed a lot of things it needs to, like Lati twins and Keldeo.

 

[Pirouette]

A very very easy way to improve your matchup versus mega scizor and bisharp is to switch TWave on Rotom to WoW. That's the standard set these days anyway tbh.

Honestly just adding a scarf keldeo over rotom wash is way better.

 

[lightninging]

Honestly just adding a scarf keldeo over rotom wash is way better.

I'm just tryna make as few changes to his team at possible. While a scarf Keldeo would certainly help with bisharp, it would also create a larger birdspam weakness. Talon has its way with a large portion of the team; Tbolt less lati ( as you suggested) can't hit back hard enough, jirachi gets flare blitzed to hell and back, lop just dies, Sylveon gets hit very hard and can't do much back, especially to spdef versions. The only check is lando-t, which lacks any recovery. Rotom-Wash serves an important role and the excellence that is volt switch should not be underrated.

 

[delibird=santa]

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll definitely consider changing Thunder Wave for Will-o-Wisp, however doing do would mean Charizard-X would also become a bigger problem than it already is.

 

[lightninging]

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll definitely consider changing Thunder Wave for Will-o-Wisp, however doing do would mean Charizard-X would also become a bigger problem than it already is.

The only suggestion off the top of my head would be to swap LO for scarf on lati, with trick over one of roost/Tbolt. Scarf Lati can revenge +1 Char X and is overall one of my favs; it also helps your stall matchup, something that hasn't been mentioned yet. Plus, CM manaphy doesn't really want a scarf, so this helps a tiny bit w that. If you can trick before a CM you're basically set.

 

[Pirouette]

Also what can charizard dragon dance on ?

 

[lightninging]

Jirachi is DD bait. And Lando is easily worn down. Furthermore, it's a possibility the player just doesn't know how to play around char x very well. So, I'm tryna make the team deal w it with as much ease as possible.
PS Just edit your OG post. double posting is discouraged.
PPS I recommend lefties on rotom, it need all the recovery it can get.

 

[Pirouette]

Jirachi is DD bait. And Lando is easily worn down. Furthermore, it's a possibility the player just doesn't know how to play around char x very well. So, I'm tryna make the team deal w it with as much ease as possible.
PS Just edit your OG post. double posting is discouraged.

Jirachi isn't dd bait as it can U-turn out into landorus and pick up a kill.rachi also has hw so if its worn down its not a problem.
Edit:the example of an inexperienced player is completely irrelevant.

 

[lightninging]

how is the experience of an inexperienced player irrelevant??? If he struggles with DD Mega X then imma help his team deal w it better. This is HIS team and it should be tailored to his strengths and weaknesses as a player. Besides, bulky WoW zard laughs at your lando switch in.

 

[zbr]

hello there! interesting concept to build around, using one extremely hard hitter to weaken down mons such that your other team mates can do their fair share of work in dealing with the threats. twave over rotom-w shows that you are actually aids understanding that sylveon needs a bit of speed control to work around with and it's extremely interesting to see how you managed to make sylveon work on your team. what i'm going to suggest are things that can help alleviate your problem against your aforementioned threats so that you don't lose to them as well as some general improvement against what you might be weak against.

as i've said, lando / lati / rotom is a standard core simply because of how effective it is and it is also noted that you have an issue with offensive physically based steel types. hence my first suggestion is to run hp fire over roost on your latios. hp fire is a tried and tested move on latios and it helps alleviate the problem of MSciz and Bish. standard bish takes about 60% to latios' draco and if you fear the pursuit, hp fire does about 40-50%ish at -2. should you lose the 5050 against bish and you lose your lati, bish is alr weakened so that you can easily knock it out. here is the part where we can tailor a bit. should you opt to run hp fire on latios, you can now run hp ground solidly on sylveon so that you can lure out potential problems like heatran

since this is alr a pretty offensive team, my next suggestion is to swap out jirachi for fast taunt rocks tran. now this change immediately solves the problem of volcarona (apart from hp ground so pls scout for it) as well as deals with stall teams since HO teams are always very weak to stall. fast taunt tran also gives you an additional option against zard x to force out the eq so that you can play around the knowledge of their zard x set. this also helps reduces your problems against msciz / bish so this should be a pretty good addition.

lastly, i have two recommendations that you can choose to apply depending on your taste and preferences. my suggestion to tackle your CM mana weakness is to sub out rotom-w for raikou. now i have two raikou sets for recommendation and both are equally powerful additions to your team. my first (and personally more preferred) choice for you is to run sub CM raikou. this change allows you to have another solid wincon once the electric immunes are removed (via lati's draco and sylv's hvoice) and it ensures that you never lose to CM mana 1v1 ever again. the second choice for you is to run specs raikou. i've had plenty of experiences with specskou and mlop (you can even check my rmt out which is basically a mlop specskou HO) and i am 100% certain that this mon will always put in work using your style of team as well as gives you the option to run hp ice + volt switch which disposes of many ground spamming mons so that your mlop can sweep easily.

hopefully my suggestions help you climb up the ladder more and improve your team so that it rectifies some of the weaknesses that are present. good luck and have fun in the game! /cheers/