SM OU First RMT ft. Mega Scizor and Xurkitree

[rumblemerk]

Hey guys, Rumblemerk here, and today I will be doing my first RMT. With Mega Metagross running around so much, I wanted to make a team that can beat it, without using it. Let's get started.

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit

So the first member of my team Mega Scizor. Mega Metagross is running around on quite a few teams, and since only a few mons can stop that monster, I decided to put Scizor on the team. As far as the set goes, swords dance is there for the attack boost if I'm sure an opponent will switch but pursuit won't do much, u-turn is for bug stab and to gain momentum, bullet punch for priority, also stab and technician boosted, and pursuit for mons that will switch out and take damage, such as Metagross, Tapu Lele, and scarfed Gengar.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Taunt
- Calm Mind

Next, we have Tapu Fini. Tapu Fini is a reliable check to a multitude of mons, such as Zygarde, Garchomp, and other dragons, and also a few fire types, such as Mega ZardX. I put it on the team to deal with one of Scizors biggest weaknesses, fire. I put max SpA and Modest nature on Fini just so it can 2HKO specially defensive Zygarde, which is common in subcoil sets. Moonblast and scald are there for stab, calm mind to set up on other Finis or mons that try to stay in, and taunt to prevent other Finis, Scizors, and other set up mons from doing their job.

Xurkitree @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Next up we have Xurkitree. I added Xurkitree to this team to hit physically defensive flying types hard, most commonly Celesteela, Scarmory, and Landorus. Xurkitree serves this team as a late game sweeper, being able to hit specially defensive mons hard with thunderbolt once the beast boost kicks in, and the opposing ground type has fainted. Thunderbolt is Xurkitree's most reliable electric attack, and dazzling gleam is to hit dark and dragon types that like to switch in, such as Guzzlord, Latias, and Sableye. Hidden Power Ice is for incoming Landorus, and OHKOES it.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Energy Ball

Our fourth pokemon is Tapu Lele, and the usual Choice Scarf set. Tapu Lele hits Toxapex, Pheromosa, and quite a few other Pokemon hard. I added Tapu Lele to the team because I was in need of a reliable revenge killer, and Scarf Lele does just that. HP Fire is for Ferrothorn, Scizor, and also hits Kartana. Psychic is its best psychic STAB, and Moonblast is its best fairy move, and hits a lot of pokemon very hard. Energy Ball is for bulky water types, such as Tapu Fini, Vaporeon, Politoad, and Suicune.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Lava Plume

Next up is Heatran, our Rock Setter and most reliable Fire, Fairy, and Grass switch in. I needed a pokemon to put down stealth rock, and thought Heatran was the best one for the job. It also checks most Tapu Bulu sets, and hits Buzzwole hard. Toxic is to hit mons that switch into it, such as Rotom, Landorus and a few others, and protect is to get a little bit of HP back while toxic does it's work, while Lava Plume is the most reliable Fire move it gets, with magma storm only being 75% accuracy.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Finally, we have our third scarf, Landorus. Landorus is a reliable lead, and can u-turn out of things it doesn't appreciate. My team well needed a mon that could lead against other leads, such as Niheligo. Landorus could also be used for rocks, but I think it's best use for the team is scarf. HP Ice is there for other Landos, and hits them very hard. Earthquake is its' best STAB, and hits most hard, and finally Stone Edge hits a lot of Different mons hard, such as Mega Pinsir, and Dragonite.

Well, that's the end of the team, and I am very open to suggestions, as I am trying to perfect this team, or at least make it better. Thanks for reading!

 

[PrincessGardevoir]

I love showing up and checking teams (since nobody seems to ever rate teams, joy!), so here's my thoughts.



- You don't want three scarfers.

It's a basic concept I don't really need to explain, but having 3 scarfers severely cuts into everything that your team can do. Sure, you can outstrip stuff like +1 Zygarde, whoo. But running three of them not only makes your team predictable, but removes a bunch of support that mons such as Landorus could do.

For example, say you lock yourself into Earthquake (as you are forced to) with Landorus-Therian. The opponent sends in a Charizard, and you are either forced to switch (free Dragon Dance/Fire Blast, or Focus Blast on a switch to Heatran) or stay in (and they either don't mega and Dragon Dance or mega and Fire Blast). Neither scenario is nice here, and none of your mons are fast enough to outspeed a +1 Charizard-Mega-X nor want to eat up a Fire Blast/Focus Blast/Solarbeam from Charizard-Y.

Landorus or Lele can stay being a scarved mon, but I would suggest having only one being here. Any more any you're missing out on the damage of Life Orb/Specs Lele or the support of a defensive Landorus.

Should you decide to keep Landorus scarfed, try running either Life Orb Lele or Specs Lele. You mention Lele was your revenge killer, and while this is true base 100s at +1, so most common Dragon Dancers that aren't named Zygarde still outspeed you regardless. Landorus-Therian not only gives you a Scarfed Intimidate, letting it take on things such as Rock Polish Metagross-Mega and most Dragon Dance mons without Ice or Water coverage more reliably. Lele also appreciates having a power boost to its moves not named Psyshock or Psychic. You may also want to trade Energy Ball for Shadow Ball or Thunderbolt, both of which hit more common threats harder such as Metagross-Mega, Heatran, Celesteela, and

Should you decide to keep Lele scarfed, go with DoubleDance Lando-T or a Defensive set. Double-Dance can destroy entire teams with Swords Dance and gives you another wincon that beats some of the sets that beat your Scizor-Mega, such as Ferrothorn (SD once and it eats massive damage from Earthquake.) A Defensive set can be used as a pivot core with Scizor, although Scizor really would like Roost over U-Turn, a Rock setter that can free up Heatran a slot for either Flash Cannon to hit the Tapus or Earth Power for other Heatrans, bulky Rocks, and Marowak-Alola, and/or a lead that can set up rocks for free on certain other leads.



- Xurkitree looks like a massive weak link in your team's offense, and having it be a Scarf mon is putting a nail into a coffin.

Here's a question, how many games have you played with this team? And could we see some replays? It'd be very valuable to seeing how you play with the team, what players are doing to your team, et cetera.

Xurkitree... Is sadly not good. The Christmas tree from Ultra Hell has a monstrous Special Attack stat, but even with max speed Timid and a Scarf being unable to outspeed a bunch of scarfed mons with a neutral nature (base 100s being an important benchmark it doesn't hit) and even being unable to outspeed Hasty Pheromosa without a Scarf sucks. It also hits fairly lightly for having such a high Special Attack, and its poor, easily walled movepool makes it susceptible to being setup on or being trapped by things such as Dugtrio. Slow Grounds like Landorus-T can come in and either freely Earthquake, doing huge damage to anything that isn't Landorus, or U-Turn out into something you switch into. Its just not good.

Thundurus-Therian, on the other hand, swallows some of those problems and chucks them out of the window. Not only is its speed tier far nicer for beating many mons, being 1 point higher than Base 100s and speed tying with Scarfed base 116s with a neutral nature, which beats Zygarde-10%, Azelf, and Starmie, but its special attack is still relatively strong, has a better movepool, and two very important immunities in Ground and Electric. Once Landorus dies, Fini appreciates having another electric immunity that can deal with things like Tapu Koko and, like Landorus, can provide a VoltTurn core alongside Scizor, or if you change U-Turn, can do so with Landorus itself. Thundurus also has a way of dealing with Marowak-Alola, can run U-Turn over Volt Switch to deal with bulky Grounds, and also could, instead of a Scarved set, run an Agility, Nasty Plot, or 4 Attacks Life Orb set for wallbreaking or endgame cleaning. And, as a note, Modest Max Speed Scarved beats Max Speed Hasty Pheromosa that don't have a scarf.

Thundurus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch / U-Turn
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave / Hidden Power Ice / Grass Knot / Flash Cannon / Literally any other filler

OR

Thundurus-Therian @ Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Flying/Ice]
- Nasty Plot / Agility / Filler attacks from last set




And, as a few EV spread ideas...
- 64 speed EVs lets you outspeed max speed neutral nature Base 61s on Tapu Fini, for example Autotomize Celesteela which normally runs Modest/Adamant, based on if its a physical or special set.

- A Specially Defensive build for Scizor-Mega of 252 HP/188+ SpD/68 Def can help you take a bunch of hits easier.
252+ SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 188+ SpD Scizor-Mega: 286-338 (83.1 - 98.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 188+ SpD Scizor-Mega: 220-260 (63.9 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 SpA Xurkitree Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 188+ SpD Scizor-Mega: 277-327 (80.5 - 95%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock




Hopefully this helps; 'course what do I know on the subject of teambuilding?

not much actually

i swear im not stealing this team right now no way nope not at all

 

[rumblemerk]

Thanks so much, I knew three scarfers wasn't a great idea, but I couldn't decide which ones to remove. I'm going to transition to double dance Landorus, and see how that works out to me. You asked how many games I've played with this team, and I've played quite a few, winning much more than losing. I've decided to use Lele as a scarfer still, as that has worked fairly well for me, and use life orb Thunderus over Xurkitree, and see how that works out. So far, xurkitree hasn't been the worst member on the team, often winning games by KOing 4+ mons, but I'm still going to see how well that works out with Thunderus instead. Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Rabia]

tbh lele set is pretty weird; I'd change the moves to Psychic/Focus Blast/Thunderbolt/Moonblast. Energy Ball doesn't really offer anything for Lele, and Focus Blast lets you hit Heatran, which currently your Lele is walled by. Plus, 3 of the 4 mons you referenced to for Energy Ball's purpose are irrelevant in OU; Psychic hits about as hard anyhow, and is far more easily spammed due to the fact many of Lele's switch ins either don't appreciate Moonblast predictions, or will still take good damage from Psychic.

 

[Matteo Zoni]

I like Landarus Hp ice and when I play by X and Y who use this ... to Tapu Lele would remove only Energy Ball instead of Thunderbolt or Shadow Ball, some even use Psychic + Psyshock, you should rather keep that fire and HP useful against M Scizor and Ferrothorn opponents, do not understand why you do not play a defogger especially because uses Heatran also Toxic spikes catches you pkm 3 of 6 and Sticky Web might slow you down the whole team, the Tapu purposes Calm Mind does not inspire me so much, many times just sets a Calm Mind you have to change it because it does not do much damage and has no fast recovery moves, you'd better use it with defog ... Heatran Grassium Z and the set of the moment, splits Whater and Groudon Types, Xustrike Scarf Volt without Swich? useless you need a momentum fast and he's right for you.