Lotus Sūtra
The Lotus Sūtra is a famous text in the Buddhist faith. It contains many aspects that Buddhism follows which show through in the team. Namely following a cycle to get to an endpoint; the Buddhists wish to achieve Nirvana, I wish to Achieve a sweep with Volcarona. It was once believed that simply by hearing these texts one could get rid of their negative karma. Anyways onto the team, I built this team around Volcarona since he's a top OU threat and most teams are fairly weak to him if he's played right. Not to mention I love the overall design of him he's really an awesome pokemon and one of my favorites from the new generation. I chose sand because I really hate any of the other weathers, Sun could work just as well boosting Volc's Fire type STAB, but sand is better imo for a balanced team like this. Not only that but Sun limits the spinners I have to choose from to support Volc. I chose the core of Skarm | Celebi | Latias since they work very well together and check a large portion of the metagame to allow Volc to gain an easier sweep. Between the Spikes and Stealth Rock along with the overall offensive presence of this team The opponents team often gets softened up and lets Volcarona set up and sweep lategame. Excadrill is easily the best offensive spinner to protect Volc so he can come in and set up with better ease. Excadrill also puts a ton of pressure on the opposing team with powerful coverage and incredible speed, and he lets me threaten almost all of Volcarona's checks.
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Careful [+SpD, -SpA]
EVs: 252 Hp | 248 SpD | 8 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Crunch
-Pursuit
-Superpower
--------------
Well I originally had Choice band tar, but it was pointed out that I obviously didn't need him so I changed to this. This set lets me check some really annoying threats like gengar and Reuniclus which were gonna cause problems otherwise. This also means I can lay rocks with Tar and allow celebi to run Nasty Plot so it can take a more offensive role to check the other things Im weak too. With the given EVs I have maximum special bulk and chople berry ensures that I live a focus blast from reuniclus and gengar allowing me to trap and beat them. Superpower lets me hit things I tend to lure in such as Ferrothorn and also lets me smash other Tyranitars. This also means I can more effectively trap lati@s, which also cause some problems for this team. All in all this was a perfect switch and helps the team out tremendously. thanks go to fried_rhys for this set and the new set for Celebi.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish[+Def, -SpA]
EVs: 252 Hp | 240 Def | 16 Spe
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird
--------------
Skarmory is incredible to say the least. He checks so many physical threats its incredible. In fact he is one of the best checks to sand around, spiking on the majority of pokemon commonly found in sand. I can usually get up 3 layers of spikes with little trouble and proceed to whirlwind spam to wrack up damage on the opponents team so Volcarona can nab a quiver dance and sweep through cleanly. He walls one of Volcarona's best revengers and one of the top threats in the metagame: Excadrill. I love seeing Excadrill in team preview because everytime it comes in its a free layer of spikes for me. Among other things it walls landorus without hp fire. He checks scizor and is a perfect switch in to jirachi since he doesn't mind the paralysis, and can roost off the damage from the Iron heads. Spikes is an incredible move and the more layers the merrier since it softens the opponent's team up nicely and leads me that much closer to getting a successful sweep with Volcarona. Needless to say Skarm pairs really well with Latias in defending the team from a vast majority of the metagame.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Modest [+SpA, -Att]
EVs: 252 SpA | 180 Spe | 76 Hp
-Nasty Plot
-Recover
-Giga Drain
-Hidden Power[fire]
--------------
Celebi is a really awesome pokemon, and checks rain pretty well. Its my main switchin to bulky waters because it shrugs off most of their attacks and doesn't mind the burn chance from scald thanks to Natural Cure. Thanks to nasty plot Celebi can boost its SpA stat to amazing levels. Giga Drain is obligatory STAB and does really well to heal off celebi against mons weak to it when I don't want to risk the recover. I was told to up the speed as lucario is a big threat to this team even though its not very common. I don't miss the bulk I lost because Latias takes the hits Celebi would be taking anyways. The speed also allows me to outrun things that aim for the 246ish area which means I have a good chance at beating them before they beat me. Not to mention it means I don't have to worry about the rare max speed scizor that sometimes runs around.
Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid [+Spe, -Att]
EVs: 252 Hp | 252 Spe | 4 SpA
-Calm Mind
-Roost
-Roar
-Dragon Pulse
--------------
Latias is so good at what it does. It checks a huge amount of special threats that are bad for this team to face. Among them the 2 biggest are Reuniclus and Virzion both of whom Latias sets up alongside them then roars them out and threatens the opponents team immensely. She also works for switching into the threats that Tyranitar and Celebi can't and can revenge many of her dragon brethren. Calm Mind boosts her special bulk to insane levels and gives her dragon pulse a nice bite to go with it. Roar means not very many special threats will be able to set up on this team. She provides much needed insurance against a ton of mons and can shuffle the opponents team to rack up spikes+stealth rock damage which is really nice for softening up the team meaning Volc again gets a clean sweep ripping apart the remnants of the opponents team which is amazing. Roost is of course for instant recovery and means she can keep switching into bad threats. And thanks to celebi absorbing status Latias doesn't have to worry about getting poisoned which would keep her staying time down tremendously. Anyways Latias is super good for this team and is a key player for getting Volcarona a sweep.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant [+Att, -SpA]
EVs: 252 Spe | 228 Att | 28 Hp
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
--------------
Excadrill, easily one of the best pokemon from the new generation. For good reason too, he sports a massive attack stat, good typing, and an ability that makes him a threat to so many teams. He is the revenge killer for this team and does an incredible job at it being outsped by nothing in sand and hitting well with the infamous edgequake coverage. Earthquake is so retardedly powerful and if I manage to nab a swords dance he just becomes that much more threatening able to rip through so many teams. Excadrill is also my answer to many things that threaten Volcarona namely the flying dragons, Terrakion, and Heatran. he can immediately threaten them all but must be wary of when he comes in. Rapid Spin is the main reason I chose Excadrill though, because any team that uses Volcarona is in need of a spinner so he doesn't get knocked for half his Hp each time he comes in. Rapid Spin is useful for the rest of the team too especially in keeping tyranitar alive so I can ensure that I get my weather as the dominant one in the end. Excadrill is also one of my powerful physical attacker to take out the ever annoying special wall known as blissey who walls Volcarona to hell and back. Excadrill is the crux of this team and the perfect partner to Volcarona.
Volcarona @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Modest [+SpA, -Att]
EVs: 248 Hp | 136 SpA | 72 Def | 52 Spe
-Quiver Dance
-Rest
-Fiery Dance
-Bug Buzz
--------------
Volcarona is one of the best pokemon in the metagame right now and for so many reasons. He is an insanely powerful sweeper and most teams have a bit of a weakness to him. I've been wanting to use him for awhile and this is the time I finally decided too. He needs a bit of support but if you play it right it can rip through opposing teams like nobody's business. I chose to use leftovers over life orb because I prefer the staying power over the extra boost since combined with sandstorm and possible entry hazard damage Volcarona needs as much help as it can get. His excellent offensive typing leads to few pokemon able to truly come in on it in OU. The few mons that do threaten are themselves immediately threatened by Excadrill and the other members of this team. Quiver Dance is the move that makes Volcarona so threatening, boosting its SpA, SpD, and Spe all in one turn which is amazing. It also means that Volc is that much harder to revenge thanks to its handy resists to common priority moves. Fiery Dance is chosen as its Fire STAB because I like the chance of getting a special attack boost more than the extra power since it tends to be better in the long run. Bug Buzz is the other obligatory STAB move and has plenty of power and the nice chance of lowering the target's SpD which is pretty cool. Volcarona is the reason I built this team and I haven't been sorry so far. It is truly a force to be reckoned with.
Thanks to Beluga for the EVs.
Team Export
Thanks in advance for the rates I look forward to getting responses
Code:
Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SDef / 8 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Recover
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Roar
- Dragon Pulse
Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
Volcarona (M) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Def / 136 SAtk / 52 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Rest
- Fiery Dance
- Bug BuzzThanks in advance for the rates I look forward to getting responses
Last edited:
