VGC VGC 2016 Team - Super Fun Meta

[WilliXL]

With the release of the VGC 2016 rules, the whole VGC Meta is now crazy. I'm super excited to see all the crazy strategies that people can come up with now that the power level of the entire meta has shot up so much.

With that being said, I've built a pretty standard team so far. It's still very much adapting to the meta right now and I find myself always bringing Primal Groudon and Xerneas (which I hope will change as the Meta shifts), but here is the team I've been testing VGC 2016 waters with.


Here's the team at a glance:

Teambuilding Process

Coming into the format, I knew I wanted to use Xerneas who is just the overall setup king.

Personally, I believe that Primal Groudon is the most broken Pokemon in the meta currently. It also pairs very well with Xerneas, getting rid of those pesky Poison and Steel (mostly Steel/Ferrothorns) Types that bug Xerneas. I also needed something to set up weather.

After that, I picked a Mega Evolution. So far, I didn't have any Intimidate users nor anything to stop Mega Venusaur, which could potentially threaten my team a bit. So I picked out Mega Salamence, which also serves as another setup sweeper.

To help both Xerneas and Mega Salamence to setup, I wanted a redirector. The only Pokemon that resist both Xerneas and Mega Salamence's weaknesses (Steel, Ice, and Fairy) was Volcarona.

I've always hated Spore and hate dealing with speed creeping. So to counter both of those, I've been using Thundurus since its introduction to the VGC format. And I won't stop now; so I added Thundurus to my team for Thunderwave spam and Taunting anything and everything that could potentially set up.

Finally to round out the team, I added in Bisharp. I've also pretty much always had Bisharp on most of my teams since its introduction. It's really good at dissuading Intimidate users and is an overall powerhouse against Fairy Types.

Xerneas @ Power Herb - For that one turn setup
Ability: Fairy Aura - Only ability, but a good one
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe - Spe for outspeeding Scarfed base 102 after Geomancy and the rest for damage and bulk
Modest Nature - More damage
- Geomancy - Setup King right here
- Dazzling Gleam - Spread Fairy STAB
- Hidden Power [Ground] - Mostly for dealing with Dialga. I ran Moonblast here for a bit, but this helps in case I don't bring Primal Groudon
- Protect - This is VGC

I basically used Smogon's set for Xerneas here. The speed allows me to outspeed Scarfed base 102's (namely Garchomp). The rest of the EVs go into SpA and HP for maximum damage and bulk. Right now, the bulk does well against most mons. Xerneas can survive any one hit from Mega Rayquaza.

Groudon @ Red Orb - For Primal Reversion
Ability: Drought - Only ability
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD - For now, just max bulk and max damage
Brave Nature - Get more damage and also less speed to ensure weather
IVs: 0 Spe - To ensure weather
- Precipice Blades - Chose this over Earthquake for the damage as well as to not lose momentum by being forced to Protect with a mon
- Overheat - For Ferrothorn
- Dragon Claw - Good coverage move for Mega Salamence and Mega Rayquaza
- Protect - Actually I mostly only use Protect for Golduck. Primal Groudon is bulky enough to survive most things

Primal Groudon is extremely potent in the meta right now. The EV spread is a very basic one that highlights what its role is, but should be tweaked more. Its main job is to OHKO, or bring within Dazzling Gleam range, Steel and Poison type Pokemon for Xerneas.

Salamence @ Salamencite - For Mega
Ability: Intimidate - I needed an Intimidate mon
Level: 50
Happiness: 0 - For Frustration damage
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Atk / 56 SpD / 52 Spe - This EV spread lives almost all Ice Type attacks in the meta, but not Xerneas's Moonblast :(
Adamant Nature - More damage, Salamence already has enough speed
- Dragon Dance - Setup
- Frustration - STAB
- Roost - Healing
- Protect - Salamence is good at baiting attacks, so I find myself Protecting with it a lot

Salamence's main role is to come in when the opponent has a lot of checks to Xerneas. Frustration pretty much OHKO or 2HKOs everything after a DD. It's also really good at baiting attacks from opponents, which allows my other mons to clean up. I also hold Mega Evolution a lot and shuffle Intimidate a lot with Mega Salamence.

Volcarona @ Leftovers - For bulk
Ability: Flame Body - Burns are nice
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA - Max bulk and damage
Modest Nature - More damage
- Rage Powder - Redirecting so my sweepers can setup
- Heat Wave - For Ferrothorn and Aegislash mostly
- Giga Drain - For Swamperts and to weaken Bulky Waters for cleanup later
- Protect - Volcarona baits Fly Spam, so Protect allows for me to clean up Fly Spammers (Namely Talonflame and other Mega Salamences)

I find myself actually rarely using Volcarona since Xerneas and Mega Salamence are so bulky and can setup without much need for redirection. Though it still comes in handy against Encore users like Whimsicott. This is the one Pokemon I'm looking to maybe replace, because I rarely use it, though it's very useful when it does come out.

Any suggestions?

Maelstrom (Thundurus) @ Sitrus Berry - Bulk
Ability: Prankster - Priority Status
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 72 SpA / 68 SpD - This spread is still from VGC 2015, I'm a bit too lazy to tweak it, though most of the Calcs are from Mega Kangaskhan, which is still a potent threat in VGC 2016
Calm Nature - More bulk
- Taunt - For other status spam
- Hidden Power [Ice] - I actually have no other Ice Type attacks on this team
- Thunderbolt - Hits Talonflames and Mega Charizards hard
- Thunder Wave - Deals with most setup sweepers

Thundurus is just overall amazing at shutting down opposing setup sweepers with both Taunt and Thunderwave. It just stays in and spreads status to everyone.

Bisharp @ Focus Sash - For longevity
Ability: Defiant - The reason why it's so powerful
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe - Damage and speed
Adamant Nature - More damage
- Knock Off - One of the best moves in the game and it's STAB
- Iron Head - STAB and flinches
- Sucker Punch - I needed some priority, otherwise I would use Low Kick in this spot
- Protect - For more longevity

Bisharp is here to dissuade Intimidate users, or to stay in for long enough for an Intimidate user to give it the boost. And although I would sacrifice its Sash, bringing it in on Icy Wind is also a prime strategy. Otherwise, Bisharp just does straight up damage.


So none of the EV spreads are finalized and are quite klunky and rough. Any suggestions on improved EV spreads would be awesome!
I would do damage Calcs, but it's so early in the Meta that it won't even really matter.

Otherwise, this is the team. Please pick it apart as much as possible!

Importable

LandLord (Groudon) @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Precipice Blades
- Overheat
- Dragon Claw
- Protect

Patronus (Xerneas) @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
- Geomancy
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Protect

Mince (Salamence) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Happiness: 0
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Atk / 56 SpD / 52 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Protect

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Rage Powder
- Heat Wave
- Giga Drain
- Protect

Maelstrom (Thundurus) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 72 SpA / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Protect

 

[Voltage]

AS of right ow, your team is like, REALLY weak to any form of Rock SLide. Additionally, some variants of Pdon run Rock slide, and that can be really hazardous for you since you haven't really got a real way to beat opposing Pdons. Seriously, Pdon breaks your team like nobody's business. I'd reccomend, if possible to having some way to clear weather, or at least to deal with Pdon, and than also not so many things that are weak to Rock Slide. I'm not sure what exactly you could drop for it, But Landorus-T would make a great addition to your team since it can beat Pdon most of the time, and takes neutral damage from Rock Slide. Alternatively, if you decide that you don't want to do that, Volcarona doesn't really help you in any way or form, and you could drop him for Specs Hydreigon. While Volcarona does give you rage powder support, Hydreigon hits Pdon much much harder since Pdon has an abysmal (in this meta, thanks power creep) 90 Base SpDef.

 

[Take Azelfie]

hey nice team dude. The team is pretty solid on its own but I might be able to help with a few things.

<

Your team just absolutely struggles with PDon and Rock moves in general like what -Voltage- said. Landorus can hit pretty much any Rock Slider with EQ or at the very least Intimidate. I would recommend the scarf variant to help kill stuff.

<

Discouraging Intimidate doesn;t really do to much to your team especially since you main goal is to sweep Xerneas and if people do bring Intimidate it will most likely be Landorus who will still OHKO you or Mega Mence which your team deals with pretty well. This can still help to deal with fairies as well as hit PDon is bit harder where it is weaker not to mention bait out Precipice Blades and use Wide Guard. I would try to run enough EVs to live a +2 HP Ground from full from Xerneas.

Good Luck

 

[WilliXL]

AS of right ow, your team is like, REALLY weak to any form of Rock SLide. Additionally, some variants of Pdon run Rock slide, and that can be really hazardous for you since you haven't really got a real way to beat opposing Pdons. Seriously, Pdon breaks your team like nobody's business. I'd reccomend, if possible to having some way to clear weather, or at least to deal with Pdon, and than also not so many things that are weak to Rock Slide. I'm not sure what exactly you could drop for it, But Landorus-T would make a great addition to your team since it can beat Pdon most of the time, and takes neutral damage from Rock Slide. Alternatively, if you decide that you don't want to do that, Volcarona doesn't really help you in any way or form, and you could drop him for Specs Hydreigon. While Volcarona does give you rage powder support, Hydreigon hits Pdon much much harder since Pdon has an abysmal (in this meta, thanks power creep) 90 Base SpDef.

You're absolutely right about PDon. I think your Landorus-T suggestion is really nice. Having double Intimidate also works well, I think, with this team. In terms of clearing weather, I'm not quite sure what you meant by that...? Something like Golduck?
And yeah, I rarely use Volcarona as it is, so I'll probably drop it.

hey nice team dude. The team is pretty solid on its own but I might be able to help with a few things.

<

Your team just absolutely struggles with PDon and Rock moves in general like what -Voltage- said. Landorus can hit pretty much any Rock Slider with EQ or at the very least Intimidate. I would recommend the scarf variant to help kill stuff.

<

Discouraging Intimidate doesn;t really do to much to your team especially since you main goal is to sweep Xerneas and if people do bring Intimidate it will most likely be Landorus who will still OHKO you or Mega Mence which your team deals with pretty well. This can still help to deal with fairies as well as hit PDon is bit harder where it is weaker not to mention bait out Precipice Blades and use Wide Guard. I would try to run enough EVs to live a +2 HP Ground from full from Xerneas.

Good Luck

Yeah, I agree with -Voltage- and you on the Landorus-T switch. Do you think Scarf is good? I ran Banded Lando-T in VGC 2015 to some success, though now with so many fast mons...
I'll play around with Scarf for a bit.

I really like Wide Guard Aegislash in VGC 2015, idk why I didn't think of using it this time around. I'll test it out as well.

 

[Mishimono]

Looks pretty good :) A suggestion would be to use Max speed Thundurus with Life Orb and Grass Knot to help patch up your Groudon weakness
252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Primal Groudon: 95-112 (53.9 - 63.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[GiraGoomy]

This is a really cool team and I really like the idea behind Support Volcarona as it has some pretty good synergy with Xerneas. As previously stated, Primal Groudon can really threaten your team however there are ways in which we can fix up this issue. Another issue I see is Primal Kyogre + Cresselia, as Thundurus is really your only way to beat that combination.

On the Primal Kyogre Issue: In my opinion, Hidden Power Ice isn't a necessary move (or close to a necessary move) for Thundurus to be running this year, mostly due to how it's not going to damaging Dragons as much as it use to. Since you are running a more bulky variant of Thundurus, I suggest you changing Hidden Power Ice to Role Play. Role Play Thundurus was a semi-common sight in the Generation Showdown tournament on the Pokemon Global Link earlier this year dude to how it can change weather and make the opponents have seconds thoughts about specifically switching Primal Kyogre in on your Groudon. Trick Room is looking to become a big threat, and Kyogre in general really threatens your team if the opp has really good ways to deal with Mence and Thundy.

I also support changing the Thundurus' EV Spread to something a bit more offensive as you don't actually outspeed Kyogre/Yveltal right now. The spread I suggest is a simple 252 Sp.A / 252 Speed spread with Sitrus Berry. My reasoning for Sitrus Berry over Life Orb is based on the fact that Life Orb doesn't really pick up many KO's as no LO would, and I think Sitrus Berry allows you to live hits from Kangaskhan. Once you run enough speed to outspeed Kangaskhan, the extra bulk doesn't really help you out with anything. I'd also like to say that depending on what you're having problems with, Role Play/Grass Knot/Focus Blast/HP Ice/Protect are all filler moves that I think can be used on Thundurus.

My thoughts on how to help against opposing Primal Groudon are similar to a lot of others, however I think that Landorus-I could be an option over Landorus-T on replacing Volcarona. I really like the idea of Volcarona, but in reality it's making the team weak to the Number One threat in the tier so I think it makes sense to leave it out here. Although Sheer Force has not been released yet, Landorus-I with Life Orb still possesses a huge amount of Power, and in fact Earth Power can OHKO Groudon.

252 SpA Life Orb Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Primal Groudon: 203-242 (98 - 116.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

Landorus-T also means that your team would have double intimidate, which can be either really helpful or really scary. I'd like to also point out that Landorus-T doesn't necessarily provide a hard check to Groudon, as it does only just over 50% with Earthquake and non-bulky variants will be OHKO'd by a possible Overheat. An Intimidate onto Lando-T means the opposing Groudon could take 2 Earthquakes which means it has 2 more turns to create havoc. Of course Lando-I doesn't this problem due to it being typically a Special Attacker.

252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Primal Groudon: 102-120 (49.2 - 57.9%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO
0- SpA Primal Groudon Overheat vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-T in Harsh Sunshine: 169-199 (102.4 - 120.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Based on this, the Lando-I set I suggest would be:

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Force
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Psychic/Hidden Power Ice/Grass Knot
- Protect

Lastly, I support changing Bisharp to Aegislash or Ferrothorn just to help you check +2 Xerneas a bit better. This isn't a necessary move but Wide Guard + Gyro Ball Aegislash can help you with Rock Slide and Trick Room, while Ferrothorn also helps vs Kyogre and is shaping up to look like a pretty good mon for this season.

Once again, really cool team and I hope you have tons of fun playing VGC 16, I know I have so far n_n.

 

[_LightCore]

Volcarona @ Leftovers - For bulk
Ability: Flame Body - Burns are nice
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA - Max bulk and damage
Modest Nature - More damage
- Rage Powder - Redirecting so my sweepers can setup
- Heat Wave - For Ferrothorn and Aegislash mostly
- Giga Drain - For Swamperts and to weaken Bulky Waters for cleanup later
- Protect - Volcarona baits Fly Spam, so Protect allows for me to clean up Fly Spammers (Namely Talonflame and other Mega Salamences)

I find myself actually rarely using Volcarona since Xerneas and Mega Salamence are so bulky and can setup without much need for redirection. Though it still comes in handy against Encore users like Whimsicott. This is the one Pokemon I'm looking to maybe replace, because I rarely use it, though it's very useful when it does come out.

Any suggestions?

You say that you rarely use Volcarona, and to be honest, Volcarona isn't the best redirection user in the current format. It takes too much damage from almost everything that will be flying your way (Dragon Ascent, Earth Power, Double-Edge). A better redirection user for your team in my opinion would be Clefable due to its ability in Unaware as well as more physical bulk.

A sample set here would go along the lines of

Clefable @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Moonblast/Ice Beam/Icy Wind
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand/Thunder Wave/Moonlight

The slashed moves are up to personal preference. The EV spread is a customized version of a 2015 spread, just with more special defense in order to help against Moonblast's from Xerneas and the like of strong Special Attacks.

Unaware is very helpful due to Xerneas liking to set up with Geomancy, since you can redirect Moonblast's. This also helps against some Mega Rayquaza who like to set up with Dragon Dance's and or Swords Dance.

The typing here is very nice as well because you gain an immunity to Dragon, which helps when you are trying to redirect Draco Meteor's from other Mega Salamence as well as Mega Rayquaza away from your own Salamence.