The idea when making this team was that I really wanted to work with choice band Pdon as I really like the fast power it offers without needing setup. I wanted a more offensive team so I opted to add a second mold breaker mon in rayquaza because of some set experimenting I've been doing recently with mixed shell smash to counter normal ray checks. Subpass Deo-a works well with both, and gale wings ray helps set hazards. But on to the team.
Groudon-Primal @ Choice Band
Ability: Turboblaze
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Beat Up
- V-create
- Thousand Arrows Groudon Primal is the best offensive pokemon in the tier. Its been said before but I will echo it here, this thing is a beast.CB v-create steamrolls nearly every defensive pokemon in the tier and thousand arrows picks off whatever is left. Beat up is to hit giratina (although not very well) and u-turn is a great pivot option. While Pdon struggles with a healthy tina, the rest of the team can handle/damage it enough that that tina isn't much of an issue most of the time. the only cases where this is not true is when 2 or more pokemon on the team have been ko'd, at which point beat up is never getting close to killing giratina anymore.
Audino-Mega @ Shed Shell
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Parting Shot
- Aromatherapy
- Defog
- Heal Order Long gone are the days where Maudino was unranked on the wonder guard viability tier list. With great bulk, a decently slow speed tier, and a great defensive typing, this pokemon can easily come in on almost all physical sweepers, and Latios-mega as well. Audino plays one of the most important roles on this team, as the primary support pokemon, keeping it alive is relatively imperative. with the ability to almost completely wall common shadow tag and non-setup sweepers, this pokemon is absurdly good. While Maudino does struggle with trick pokemon, being able to predict trick to switch in Pdon for free is always welcome, and diminishes this risk greatly.
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Latios-Mega Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 129-153 (31.4 - 37.3%) -- 80.2% chance to 3HKO this is one of the more important calcs for physical Maudino, and the main reason to run it. Latios-mega can run through the team otherwise, so its very important that Maudino be around to check it.
Other important Maudino calcs:
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Groudon-Primal Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 127-150 (30.9 - 36.5%) -- 68.3% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Mewtwo-Mega-X Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 236-278 (57.5 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 253-298 (61.7 - 72.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Deoxys-Attack @ Leftovers
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Gastro Acid
- Psystrike
- Baton Pass This has risen up to be my favorite subpass pokemon. It outspeeds beedrill, can gastro acid sweepers to stop them, psystrike chips Pogre, Mgar, Blissey, and occasionally Maudino. I opt for 252 spa as Deo-a is not living any hits, regardless of whether it has 252hp ev's or not, and so I thought it better to chip other mons a little harder. But honestly subpass holds the team together. Gastro acid + psystrike behind a sub can force difficult predicts which let the teams heavy hitters come in easily. The other great thing about subpass deo-a is that people are really not expecting wonder guard or substitute on a deoxys, so that can be used to fool people. The other great reason I chose deo-a over something like xerneas is it destroys beedrill. Beedrill-mega, while not as popular right now, is still a decent threat to most subpass pokemon such as xerneas, Pogre, arceus, and Mgar, because it outspeeds and taunts them, however deo-a has no such issues.
Rayquaza-Mega @ Life Orb
Ability: Turboblaze
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SpA / 48 Spe
Rash Nature
- Substitute
- Shell Smash
- Oblivion Wing
- Thousand Arrows Sub ray is second only to Pdon on my list of the best sweepers. And this set makes full use of that. while perhaps worse than the standard dark void/taunt sets in some ways, Mixed tarrows ray offers the unique bonuses of completely invalidating most common ray counters. Shell smash life orb is necessary to ensure that ray ohko's registeel. 208 hp gives ray enough bulk to shrug a hit from most passive mons, but still recover enough hp from owing to outlive curse if unboosted (in most cases) While ray still needs help from Pdon to take out things such as specially defensive Maudino, and certain non-ground weak flying resists, its sweeping ability and damage output are still enough to easily have this spot over any other sweeper.
Giratina @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Curse
- Recover
- Chatter
- Encore I am just going to say this now, confusion is by far the most busted mechanic this generation. With paralysis being the only competitor. A 50% chance to hit yourself in confusion is so absurdly good that it can force out most sweepers just through having it applied. I am running chatter on Giratina here because I feel that normally giratina is too passive, and I wanted a better plethora of options to stop sweepers. chatter being unbounceable is also nice as giratina doesn't have to worry about statusing itself. While this does make gira less threatening to wonder guards, I think that being able to actually threaten some anti-tina measures is quite nice.
Rayquaza-Mega @ Sky Plate
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Chatter
- Oblivion Wing
- Taunt
- Spikes while unable to match Diancie or Mgyara in sheer power, Gale wings rayquaza offers a niche anti-sweeper role in its ability to make progress against wonder guards with taunt + spikes. And its power is still nothing to scoff at. With sky plate Owing ohkoing most sweepers besides certain resists.
And finally, checks and counters:
-- belly drum priority sweepers. With a lack of fakespeed, the team struggles immensely to belly drum e-speed or other priority moves. Tina can semi-check them with chatter, but that is shaky.
-- Shadow tag choice trick. I already mentioned this when talking about audino, but shadow tag mons tricking choice items really hurts the team. Deo-a has no way to avoid it, and becomes useless once tricked. Audino doesn't like getting tricked either, but having a switch in groudon does help.
-- Protean/wonder guard Latios-mega. Non teravolt Latios sets are a real struggle for this team, as if lati has the right coverage, there isn't much the rest of the team can do to stop it.
if you have any feedback, I would greatly appreciate it.
Groudon-Primal @ Choice Band
Ability: Turboblaze
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Beat Up
- V-create
- Thousand Arrows
Audino-Mega @ Shed Shell
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Parting Shot
- Aromatherapy
- Defog
- Heal Order
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Latios-Mega Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 129-153 (31.4 - 37.3%) -- 80.2% chance to 3HKO this is one of the more important calcs for physical Maudino, and the main reason to run it. Latios-mega can run through the team otherwise, so its very important that Maudino be around to check it.
Other important Maudino calcs:
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Groudon-Primal Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 127-150 (30.9 - 36.5%) -- 68.3% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Mewtwo-Mega-X Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 236-278 (57.5 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Audino-Mega: 253-298 (61.7 - 72.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Deoxys-Attack @ Leftovers
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Gastro Acid
- Psystrike
- Baton Pass
Rayquaza-Mega @ Life Orb
Ability: Turboblaze
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SpA / 48 Spe
Rash Nature
- Substitute
- Shell Smash
- Oblivion Wing
- Thousand Arrows
+2 0 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Registeel: 398-468 (109.3 - 128.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Thousand Arrows vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Diancie-Mega: 260-307 (85.8 - 101.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 0 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar-Mega: 398-468 (98.5 - 115.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Thousand Arrows vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Diancie-Mega: 260-307 (85.8 - 101.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 0 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar-Mega: 398-468 (98.5 - 115.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
Giratina @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Curse
- Recover
- Chatter
- Encore
Rayquaza-Mega @ Sky Plate
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Chatter
- Oblivion Wing
- Taunt
- Spikes
And finally, checks and counters:
-- belly drum priority sweepers. With a lack of fakespeed, the team struggles immensely to belly drum e-speed or other priority moves. Tina can semi-check them with chatter, but that is shaky.
-- Shadow tag choice trick. I already mentioned this when talking about audino, but shadow tag mons tricking choice items really hurts the team. Deo-a has no way to avoid it, and becomes useless once tricked. Audino doesn't like getting tricked either, but having a switch in groudon does help.
-- Protean/wonder guard Latios-mega. Non teravolt Latios sets are a real struggle for this team, as if lati has the right coverage, there isn't much the rest of the team can do to stop it.
if you have any feedback, I would greatly appreciate it.