As title already revealed, I am trying to put together a rather offensively tuned team. While I had been following VGC 2017 from the very beginning, I haven't really been playing competitively before, so I am open to any kind of help and suggestions, I'm sure there are plenty of things I didn't account for.
Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Power Gem
- Sludge Bomb
- HP Ice
- Protect
I will start with my "main man". This is standard Life orb attacking Nihilego, nothing special about him. I considered running Thunderbolt on this set but decided to go for HP Ice instead since as timid + 252 Spe it outspeeds any non-scarf Garchomp variant, and Power Gem already providing half of the coverage Thunderbolt would do.
Main role of this guy here is to counter Tapus while it threatens offensive Arcanines and Gyaradoses. Due to his natural special bulk, it is also pretty safe switch-in into things like Ninetales-A.
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- HP Ice
- Volt Switch
While I consider Nihilego my main attacker and try to plan my killing in order for Nihilego to sweep at the end, specs Koko is nothing to underestimate either. This thing is fast and hits like a special truck. If you don't resist electric, you're gonna have a bad time.
HP Ice is there as coverage for Garchomp, being able to OHKO any uninvested Chomp. However, since offensive Garchomps can OHKO this thing in return, I am also considering switching HP Ice for Grass Knot. If I can't OHKO Garchomp with HP Ice I could be using Dazzling Gleam anyway. Grass Knot on the other hand would give me a way to deal with likes of Gastrodon and Rhyperior that would otherwise be quite a problem for me. However these mons are not exactly common in VGC nowadays so I don't know if it's worth having a counter to them at the expense of covering much more common Garchomps.
Volt Switch is good option to provide semi-safe switch out while still dealing nice damage. However maybe Discharge could be a better move in general, because if Volt Switch fails this Koko is in world of troubles. And chances for Volt Switch to fail are not low either - protect from oponent, ground mon switch-in and Lightning rod mon switch-in - and all these are quite common. Discharge would be great option especially when Lightning rod mon is on the field and I desperately need to dispose of the other mon.
Mudsdale @ Assault Vest
Ability: Stamina
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- High Horsepower
- Heavy Slam
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
Since major portion of my team is quite fast I need to have something to bring into Trick Room in case I am not able to stop opponent from setting it up. On top of that I also wanted to have a Ground type pokemon that will force my opponent to at least think twice about using Electric attacks. 252 HP is there for general bulk while Assault Vest and Stamina make it even more resilient (outside TR there is good chance Mudsdale will move last, so it has to be able to withstand couple of attacks). In general this is pretty safe switch-in into Electric, Rock, Ground and Fire types.
First three moves are pretty self-explaining, but for last slot I chose to go with yet another coverage option over running Earthquake. 3 of my mons are weak to ground and only one of them has Protect, so I don't think there would be a lot safe usage for EQ.
Metagross @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Att / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm
- Bullet Punch
I felt like I had to have a steel type in my ranks and Metagross was the prime candidate that won at the end. It provides great physical offensive presence and at the same time it can take a beating due to its natural bulk and typing. Adamant with 252 Att gives it maximum attacking power and 220HP + 36 Def makes it survive Flare Blitz from Arcanine 95% of time. Metagross is my main switch-in against poison, psychic and fairy types. Originally I wanted to use Assault Vest on it but I had to find something else at the end (Mudsdale is already running AV) and Weakness Policy seemed like the best option to boost its already high attack.
This is also my second go-to mon in Trick room due to its average base speed and no additional speed investment, and with Hammer Arm I can make it even slower. Another reason to use Hammer Arm instead of Earthquake was to have a way to deal with Porygon2.
Main problem I have with this Metagross is usage of inaccurate moves. And the only accurate move is Bullet Punch which has low base power and can be easily countered by Psychic Terrain, Dazzling and Queenly Majesty.
Salamence @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
This is my intimidate user and coverage guy. It's typing and ok-ish natural bulk make it a good switch-in to common threats like Kartana, Garchomp and Arcanine. After intimidate drop, Kartana and Arcanine cannot really touch it, and since most Garchomp don't run Dragon Claw, it is fairly safe against those as well. In general I like Salamence to slow down physical attackers.
Draco Meteor is there to maximize offensive pressure but ever present Fairy mons in VGC 2017 make it less viable than I would like (together with dropping SpA by two stages), and when Misty terrain is up it is pretty much unusable. On the other hand Flamethrower and Hydro Pump provide great coverage options to deal with Grass, Steel, Ground, Rock and Fire types. Flamethrower can OHKO any Kartana set and Z-Draco Meteor 43% chance of OHKO-ing uninvested Garchomps under Misty terrain.
I was also thinking to swap Flamethrower for Fire blast, for even more power, but I chose to stay with Flamethrower because my two other attacking moves are not 100% accurate and low PP. While I don't expect to be in long battles to be running out of PP, there is still a chance there will be Celesteela trying to stall me out...
As item I chose to run Dragonium Z on this set mostly to give it a little more power as its SpA is not as good as its Att and to have one more full more Draco Meteor in my disposal without switching out to reset SpA drops.
Talonflame @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Quick Guard
Last but not least - Talonflame. To be completely honest my goal for last slot in my team was to have some form of speed control. Gale Wings ability guarantees that either my Tailwind gets up as first thing or I fire off Z-Brave Bird before anything else on the field. Unfortunately Z-Brave Bird does not have the best general coverage as they aren't many mons directly weak to it in current meta.
So - Flare Blitz, Brave Bird and Tailwind are must-have moves. Quick Guard is there to stop potential Fake outs but I don't think I have used it once so far so maybe I could switch it for U-Turn or Protect. Another viable option for 4th slot is Taunt - it stops TR from coming up and I don't think there would be many players expecting Taunt from Talonflame, which can catch them off guard a bit.
One of the main problems I have with Talonflame is that it is extremely frail. Most of the time I have to choose whether I want to set up Tailwind or attack as it is not going to live another day. Since I don't use Focus Sash anywhere, maybe I could put it on Talonflame. But even with Focus sash it won't live more than 2 turns due to recoil damage. But I think that it is still interesting mon - priority Tailwind is nice thing to have, and if it lives for another turn, it can deal with a lot of things (Talonflame in tailwind man handles scarf Kartana which could cause a lot of troubles otherwise).
Another major issue with Talonflame is that Z-Gale Wings is pretty much useless when Psychic terrain is on field, or any Dazzling/Queenly Majesty user. If opponent plays it smart he/she can shut my initial attack and render my Talonflame susceptible for knock out while burning my Z move. This is one more reason why I am considering giving it Focus sash instead of that Flyinium Z.
---------------------------
So far I've had pretty decent results with this team, better than I actually anticipated. And I would have had even better if I wasn't doing rookie mistakes. I used to have troubles against TR teams with my previous team but since I added Mudsdale to the team I feel better about it.
However I'm still unsure about some mons in my current team, especially Talonflame. I had an idea of switching it out for Prankster Whimsicott which can fill similar role with priority Tailwind, while providing even more support with Encore and Taunt. And Z-Nature Power could be something that may throw a lot of people off guard. However Whimsicott can be walled hard by Dark Types and psychic terrain setters.
Another thing is defensive synergy - my plan is to have good offensive team but that does not mean I cannot have "safe switch-ins" (as mentioned in descriptions, Nihilego and Metagross are great offensively but they also provide a way to switch into some common threats due to their natural bulk and typing). My team has 3 ground and 3 water weaknesses, which probably is not good. Salamence is good switch-in for both of those weaknesses, seeing how popular Garchomp and Tapu Fini are in current meta game, Salamence is not ideal to counter those. Sword Dance Garchomp with Dragon Claw / Rock Slide can be able to handle Salamence even after intimidate, and Tapu Fini cannot be touched by Salamence at all. Whimsicott could help with Tapu Fini but then I would lose an offensive presence Talonflame may have.
Thank you for staying with me and I'm looking forward to your analysis :)
