My first post on the forums and my first RMT! I've had a ton of fun with this team, and despite essentially being volt-turn spam I still feel that he's a unique little snowflake!
So, yes, team
Scizor-Mega (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 108 SpD / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn / Superpower
The squad's daddy, Scizor provides a very strong spine for the team, being able to set up, heal up, pivot out of or outright defeat a good chunk of OU (provided they don't run scizor's hardest counter: hidden power fire) like non-Z Landorus, Tangrowth, Venusaur, Magearna, Kartana, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele, Clefable, Diancie, Alakazam, and the Lati twins. The EV spread enables Scizor to tank a single specs Ash Greninja hydro pump (43% chance to live after rocks in a pinch), with enough speed for modest magnezone and an Impish nature+a little defense for things like Kartana's sacred sword and Diancie's diamond storm. U-turn can be swapped out for Superpower if you feel like smacking heatran and magnezone hard on the switch is more valuable than pivoting out, which sometimes I do. If running Superpower, it may be prudent to not bother with the physdef investment but I'm far too lazy to change it every time I swap moves. A major downside with Scizor, however, is its mediocre bulk before it mega evolves, making switching into some heavy hitters like specs Lele or Diancie difficult if you haven't mega'd yet.
Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
The team's rocker and likely the most obvious pairing with Mega Scizor, Heatran forces most fire attacks directed at Scizor to become a mind game, knowing that powering up your flash fire may just give you a free KO. Removing Toxapex is also always a blessing for Sciz.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Defog
- Thunder Wave
Physdef Rotom is the team's defogger, and also has a nice synergy with Heatran and Scizor. While wil-o is the most common status option, I feel like most of the Pokémon that I would normally like to burn with Rotom like Tapu Bulu have a very poor matchup vs this team anyway. While this was originally specially defensive for greninja, this team lacked a good answer to Hawlucha and I figured it more worth it to sacrifice my defensive Gren answer because I can still check it offensively with my own Gren.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 152 SpD / 112 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Roost
Gliscor is yet another synergistic pivot, and one that should be sticking around for a while what with the team's natural resistance to ice and it's natural sustainability. While usually Gliscor likes to run more utilitarian support options, rotom taking up much of that role enables you to to diversify with the slightly more niche option of u-turn, enabling more pivot spam. Knock off is a great option to remove scarfs from the likes of Lando and Kart, assault vests from things like Tangrowth, Chansey's eviolite, and various leftovers. The EV spread enables you to outspeed timid Heatran while enabling you to take hits from said Heatran as best as you can.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power Fire
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
This is the Pokémon that you want to be pivoting INTO when using this team. I think you all now how obscenely powerful modest specs Lele is, 2HKOing ridiculous things like offensive heatran with psychic, ruining Magearna with Psyshock, and coming darn close to OHKOing max spdef ferrothorn with focus blast. While focus blast is definitely the preferred option, sometimes that accuracy leads to depression so hidden power fire is a thing. It should also be noted that your own terrain will block Scizor's bullet punch, so keep that in mind when sending in Lele.
Greninja (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Grass Knot
- Rock Slide
Protean Gren is the team's speedy boy, and can often 1v1 hyper offense teams on its own with a decent matchup. Having the STAB coverage of U-turn and ice beam without having a stealth rock weakness is an amazing blessing. 80 EVs in spatk are preferred when running grass knot to ensure the OHKO on mega Swampert. Rock slide is there for Volcarona and ZardyY, while also having a nice chance to flinch if Rotom thunder wave's a more bulky threat.
POOR MATCHUPS:
-Sun
While I haven't run into much sun, it's pretty obvious that sun teams diddle me kind of hard, putting tons of pressure on my Rotom and Heatran to basically carry the rest of the team.
-Ash Greninja
I rely on revenge killing Ash or making risky doubles on it, unfortunately, as I had to sacrifice my main answer in spdef Rotom to better check Hawlucha
-Bulky Volcarona
While I do have scarf rock slide gren, if something happens to my froggy boi or if Volc manages to get 2 quiver dances before gren comes in, I am basically screwed as heatran usually won't beat it 1v1.
-there was another major one that is currently slipping my mind, will update this as soon as it comes to me
So, in short, if it wasn't already apparent, the team is built around getting in Tapu Lele, Heatran, and Greninja safely using the synergy of its pivots. Mega Scizor is a really underrated pick in my mind, and just the fact alone that it counters the majority of Magearna sets would be enough for me to consider using it. I've been developing this team for the past few days, so let me know what you guys think! If anything I'd think rotom and Lele the most flexible mons to be changed around, but what do I know huh I just got here???
So, yes, team
Scizor-Mega (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 108 SpD / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn / Superpower
The squad's daddy, Scizor provides a very strong spine for the team, being able to set up, heal up, pivot out of or outright defeat a good chunk of OU (provided they don't run scizor's hardest counter: hidden power fire) like non-Z Landorus, Tangrowth, Venusaur, Magearna, Kartana, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele, Clefable, Diancie, Alakazam, and the Lati twins. The EV spread enables Scizor to tank a single specs Ash Greninja hydro pump (43% chance to live after rocks in a pinch), with enough speed for modest magnezone and an Impish nature+a little defense for things like Kartana's sacred sword and Diancie's diamond storm. U-turn can be swapped out for Superpower if you feel like smacking heatran and magnezone hard on the switch is more valuable than pivoting out, which sometimes I do. If running Superpower, it may be prudent to not bother with the physdef investment but I'm far too lazy to change it every time I swap moves. A major downside with Scizor, however, is its mediocre bulk before it mega evolves, making switching into some heavy hitters like specs Lele or Diancie difficult if you haven't mega'd yet.
Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
The team's rocker and likely the most obvious pairing with Mega Scizor, Heatran forces most fire attacks directed at Scizor to become a mind game, knowing that powering up your flash fire may just give you a free KO. Removing Toxapex is also always a blessing for Sciz.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Defog
- Thunder Wave
Physdef Rotom is the team's defogger, and also has a nice synergy with Heatran and Scizor. While wil-o is the most common status option, I feel like most of the Pokémon that I would normally like to burn with Rotom like Tapu Bulu have a very poor matchup vs this team anyway. While this was originally specially defensive for greninja, this team lacked a good answer to Hawlucha and I figured it more worth it to sacrifice my defensive Gren answer because I can still check it offensively with my own Gren.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 152 SpD / 112 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Roost
Gliscor is yet another synergistic pivot, and one that should be sticking around for a while what with the team's natural resistance to ice and it's natural sustainability. While usually Gliscor likes to run more utilitarian support options, rotom taking up much of that role enables you to to diversify with the slightly more niche option of u-turn, enabling more pivot spam. Knock off is a great option to remove scarfs from the likes of Lando and Kart, assault vests from things like Tangrowth, Chansey's eviolite, and various leftovers. The EV spread enables you to outspeed timid Heatran while enabling you to take hits from said Heatran as best as you can.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power Fire
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
This is the Pokémon that you want to be pivoting INTO when using this team. I think you all now how obscenely powerful modest specs Lele is, 2HKOing ridiculous things like offensive heatran with psychic, ruining Magearna with Psyshock, and coming darn close to OHKOing max spdef ferrothorn with focus blast. While focus blast is definitely the preferred option, sometimes that accuracy leads to depression so hidden power fire is a thing. It should also be noted that your own terrain will block Scizor's bullet punch, so keep that in mind when sending in Lele.
Greninja (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Grass Knot
- Rock Slide
Protean Gren is the team's speedy boy, and can often 1v1 hyper offense teams on its own with a decent matchup. Having the STAB coverage of U-turn and ice beam without having a stealth rock weakness is an amazing blessing. 80 EVs in spatk are preferred when running grass knot to ensure the OHKO on mega Swampert. Rock slide is there for Volcarona and ZardyY, while also having a nice chance to flinch if Rotom thunder wave's a more bulky threat.
POOR MATCHUPS:
-Sun
While I haven't run into much sun, it's pretty obvious that sun teams diddle me kind of hard, putting tons of pressure on my Rotom and Heatran to basically carry the rest of the team.
-Ash Greninja
I rely on revenge killing Ash or making risky doubles on it, unfortunately, as I had to sacrifice my main answer in spdef Rotom to better check Hawlucha
-Bulky Volcarona
While I do have scarf rock slide gren, if something happens to my froggy boi or if Volc manages to get 2 quiver dances before gren comes in, I am basically screwed as heatran usually won't beat it 1v1.
-there was another major one that is currently slipping my mind, will update this as soon as it comes to me
So, in short, if it wasn't already apparent, the team is built around getting in Tapu Lele, Heatran, and Greninja safely using the synergy of its pivots. Mega Scizor is a really underrated pick in my mind, and just the fact alone that it counters the majority of Magearna sets would be enough for me to consider using it. I've been developing this team for the past few days, so let me know what you guys think! If anything I'd think rotom and Lele the most flexible mons to be changed around, but what do I know huh I just got here???
Last edited: