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The 'Saur Core

Zachmac

Well-Known Member
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Remember my last team, Zy Guardians? Well, I made a few changes to it. And then I made some more. And then some more. As a result, I found myself with a team completely unrelated to it in every possible way. I also carry a Grass, a Water, and a Fairy type, just to show dedication my guild, Team Enchanted Garden. I guess you could say that these are the Team Enchanted Guardians.

This team has elements of both Bulky Offense and Stall alike and is used for Pokebank OU.

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Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis
- Sludge Bomb

Despite it's lack of leftovers, Mega Venusuar's defensive ability is phenomenal. It carries only two rare weaknesses, Psychic and Flying, while having several useful resistances in Electric, Water, and Fighting.

Since it lacks the support of leftovers, it has to rely on it's moves for health recovery. Because of this, Giga Drain is it's STAB of choice, and it makes Venusaur great at taking down bulky waters. Leech Seed, while it can be a tad bit unreliable, is a great move when I'm expecting a swap in and often causes pokemon to swap out. Synthesis is extremely important, especially now considering how rare rain is.

Venusaur is the main driving force behind this team, and everything else revolves around it. Rather fitting for a mega evolution.

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Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderwave
- Recover

Since Tentacruel really wasn't holding it's wait on my team, I wanted to find a water-type hazard remover to take it's place. Empoleon looked nice, but it would of done nothing to stop Mega Luc, so I decided to give the old starfish a try.

The EVs are enough to outrun a timid or jolly Mega Luc. After that, it can use thunderwave to cripple the jackal's speed, making it possible for Landy or Heatran to revenge kill without fear of Flash Cannon or Close Combat. It's suicidal, but unlike when facing Mega Khan from the past, Lucario won't be dangerous to my team at all once it's paralyzed. Rapid spin removes the hazards which make swapping in oh so difficult, Recover increases longevity, and Scald is there for the burn chance.

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Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect

Sylveon is my team's cleric, relieving Venusaur of those nasty burns Rotom-W often gives it and making sure it's teammates who struggle to heal stay healthy with wish. Hyper Voice, when combined with Pixilate, is actually pretty powerful, and it helps me break through the defenses of Trevenant and SubToxic Glisor.

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Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

Hydreigon is here to make sure dragon dancers, powerful ghost, and special Landorouses don't wreck my team. It doesn't usually stay in for long, so I Draco Meteor is it's STAB of choice, wrecking Charizard-X's and Dragonites who dare attempt to sweep my team. Dark Pulse keeps Gengar and Aegislash in check, and Fire Blast is mostly just filler to smack steel types who expect Draco Meteor. U-turn works well on a choice scarfer, transforming it into a scout if it needs to be.

I chose a timid nature over a naive or hasty because if I'm using U-turn, dealing damage probably isn't a priority.

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Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Roar
- Protect
- Stealth Rock

Heatran is an important part of my team's defensive core. It resist Psychic and Flying for Venusaur and Tentacruel and Steel and Poison for Sylveon. In return, all three of them resist fighting, and 'saur/'cruel both resist water. Stealth Rock's damage really stacks up over time, thanks to all the swap outs stall causes, and Roar just increases the rate at which that happens. Protect helps it to increase it's long-term durability, and Lava Plume is STAB with a great chance to burn, slowly robbing foes of HP overtime, even if it's not very effective.

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Landorus-Therian @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Superpower

Originally a Skarmory, Landy-T seeks to defend my team from the nasty earthquakes at which they fail to withstand. It's massive attack adds to my team's firepower, which when combined with U-turn, gives this team some more offensive presence. With hidden power ice's nerf, I felt that it was too weak to really justify a move slot which could be used for the far more powerful Stone Edge to help hit Mandibuzz and Togekiss. Superpower is good for hitting Air Balloon Heatran, Mamoswine swap ins, and Ferrothorns, among other threats.

So what the heck is up with the item and the EVs? Yeah, it may look silly, but I have a very good reason for this. Landy-T, without any investment, is still very powerful. By running a defensive EV spread and carrying the Choice Band, this pokemon can both counter powerful physical attackers like Excadrill and Terrakkion, but it also serves as a surprisingly good non-invested wall breaker as well. This keeps Blissy especially from running circles around my team.
 
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RifleAvenger

See you starside
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Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis
- Knock Off

Despite it's lack of leftovers, Mega Venusuar's defensive ability is phenomenal. It carries only two rare weaknesses, Psychic and Flying, while having several useful resistances in Electric, Water, and Fighting.

Since it lacks the support of leftovers, it has to rely on it's moves for health recovery. Because of this, Giga Drain is it's STAB of choice, and it makes Venusaur great at taking down bulky waters. Leech Seed, while it can be a tad bit unreliable, is a great move when I'm expecting a swap in and often causes pokemon to swap out. Synthesis is extremely important, especially now considering how rare rain is. Knock Off was mostly chosen as a filler move, but I've found it to be very useful when I'm expecting a swap in, stripping them of their item for the rest of the battle.

Venusaur is the main driving force behind this team, and everything else revolves around it. Rather fitting for a mega evolution.

First off, I love M-Venusaur. It's been a boon to a lot of stall-semi stall teams I've run. However, I've got some issues with this set. Mostly that you aren't running sludge bomb. Without sludge bomb, M-Venu cannot do much of anything to other bulky grasses (or any grasses for that matter). This will force you to switch, lest they freely set up on Venusaur. Furthermore, sludge bomb pegs a lot of switch ins to M-Venusaur better than Giga-Drain will, some examples being Talonflame and Togekiss.

4 SpA Mega Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 157-186 (43.6 - 51.6%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
4 SpA Mega Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Togekiss: 152-180 (40.6 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

You cannot do much of anything to these coming in if you lack sludge bomb, but you will greatly harm them if you do carry it. Personally, I'd replace leech seed. It's unreliable, and set-up sweepers with recovery don't give a damn about it. This includes CM or CP magic guard Clefable, who is a monster against stall teams.

You could also run EQ over knock off, so that you could possibly defeat opposing Heatran without switching Skarmory off the team for Gliscor.

252+ SpA Flash Fire Heatran Lava Plume vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Thick Fat Mega Venusaur: 138-164 (37.9 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Flash Fire Heatran Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Thick Fat Mega Venusaur: 152-182 (41.7 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

0- Atk Mega Venusaur Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 248-292 (64.2 - 75.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Even without investment and a neg. nature, you 2HKO, while Heatran's usual STABs only 3hko's. Fire blast is an issue though, and of course, you may need to pop an air balloon first.

Lastly, roar is also always an option in the last slot. I won't press it too much, as you already have phazing on Heatran and Skarmory. However, it lets you spread around more hazard damage, and stuffs attempts to set-up. It's stall's equivalent of a pivot. And it has a lot of PP, which is actually a real concern in Stall vs. Stall games.

As for the rest of the team, I've liked it in the test-runs I've played so far. Hydriegon's actually made for an alright Aigislash check. The only other thing I'm suspicious about is not running an attack on Skarmory, but I'll give the team a bit more playtime before I weigh in on that.
 
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Zachmac

Well-Known Member
First off, I love M-Venusaur. It's been a boon to a lot of stall-semi stall teams I've run. However, I've got some issues with this set. Mostly that you aren't running sludge bomb. Without sludge bomb, M-Venu cannot do much of anything to other bulky grasses (or any grasses for that matter). This will force you to switch, lest they freely set up on Venusaur. Furthermore, sludge bomb pegs a lot of switch ins to M-Venusaur better than Giga-Drain will, some examples being Talonflame and Togekiss.
I had originally been carrying Sludge Bomb > Knock Off, but I had rarely used it.

It is true that Sludge Bomb had been it's best move for Talonflame, but I've usually been hitting that swap in with, ironically, leech seed. I actually hadn't considered trying it over that move. I think I'll give the team a few goes with it and see how much I miss Leech Seed.
You cannot do much of anything to these coming in if you lack sludge bomb, but you will greatly harm them if you do carry it. Personally, I'd replace leech seed. It's unreliable, and set-up sweepers with recovery don't give a damn about it. This includes CM or CP magic guard Clefable, who is a monster against stall teams.
The few times I've fought with those, I just phazed them with Heatran.

Edit: I decided that Knock Off won't be missed too terribly much, but Leech Seed will. Sludge Bomb > Knock Off.
I also decided against Gliscor after trying it out.

Edit2: Landy-T didn't feel much better or worse, but I did notice a ladder increase when I swapped for it. I'm adding it in.
 
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