Hi I am new to the smogon forums here to post my most recent team. I have been playing AG for a while and have many teams. Most of these teams end up just being forgotten due to how unsuccessful they are and many of them have irreparable flaws or perhaps it is just a lack of skill that has not allowed me to use other teams to success. Today I am going to share my more successful team that have not discovered any notable flaws in.
At first glance:
Team building:
First I started off Zekrom since I have been trying to make a team based on him for so long because I feel like he has so much potential wall breaking power even without any damage boosting items and has access to volt-switch which is really nice. He is able to act as a scout and a solid wall breaker so I thought he was a good place to start.
Next I decided I wanted to add an Mray which covers Zekroms biggest weakness of Pdon being flying and being able to switch in and KO don with relative ease.
With the team now having 2 dragons I had a large fairy weakness and so I decided to add in Ho-oh to be able to deal with those pesky fairy types while having a good darkrai counter. I also threw in an ekiller to deal with klefkis with lum spam so I dont get rnged to death.
The last two spots are filled with a tankceus normal to deal with ekillers and a xerneas for darks and dragons as well as being able to clean up late game with just one geomancy.
Now my team was pretty solid and I did some testing. I discovered that Ho-oh, although powerful, did not do the job like I wanted. It would quickly get worn down by toxic which some arceus fairy carried and was useless when faced with the threat of xerneas. Additionally, I lacked a stealth rock setter which made the wall breaking power of the likes of Zekrom and Mray less significant and so I replaced Ho-oh with arceus poison.
Closer look at the team:
Zekrom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor
- Volt Switch
Zekrom is one of the best wall breakers I know of right now. As long as it doesn't miss anything he can break through most of the conventional physical walls such as yveltal, skarmary, and lugia. This set can also 2hkos some bulky arceus variants. Bolt Strike the the main stab being able to hit extremely hard and tare holes in teams. Outrage is mainly there for late game clean up since it cannot miss and should only be used once all fairy types and steel types have been taken out. Draco meteor is the main dragon type stab move to be used. Even without investment, it still hit very hard although the special attack drop is somewhat annoying. Volt switch makes him a viable scout lead although pdon switchins can be annoying. The choice scarf gives him the speed of being able to outspeed most of the metagame and ohko anything that it can hit super effective for. Although he is somewhat hard to fit into teams, he is a severely underrated mon and can tare unprepared teams into pieces.
Rayquaza-Mega @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
This guy is the reason that this whole tier was ever created and that alone gives it a good reason to have a spot on this team. This is just the standard dragon dance set and used to deal with zekrom's largest weakness of pdon. It is also nice with the lum berry to be able to deal with klefkis.
Arceus-Poison @ Toxic Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Defog
- Poison Jab
- Recover
This guy's my favorite xerneas counter. It always beats xerneas unless they run psyshock or crit multiple times. The evs and nature is so that you can avoid 2hko from all of xerneas moves except psyshock. Thunder wave is used so that it can slow down set up sweeper that think arc-poison is free set-up. Defog is so that once he comes in against xerneas i can remove hazards. My team isn't particularly weak to stealth rocks so removing rocks are not necessary but defog is still nice to have. Poison jab is there so I can kill xerneas and potentially poison other walls. Even uninvested poison jab 2hkos standard geoxerneas. Recover is for sustain so that it can beat xerneas and not just used for suicide cannon fodder.
Arceus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Recover
I got this idea from Yuga42 and its working exceptionally well. I never knew arc-normal walls arc-normal so well. This build can avoid 2hko from all of arceus' moves at +2 and roar them out. Extreme speed is also nice against Mrays after a dragon ascent it does a respectable amount of damage. Rocky helmet so that it is not as passive against arceus' and rays. I run enough speed to outspeed adamant pdon. Im not sure if the speed is necessary but im not sacrificing too much bulk so it doesnt hurt to run some speed. Overall, this is a very powerful physical wall and is needed to hold this team together.
Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Magic Coat
This is just the standard ekiller. Often i can come in late game and clean up but its main role in this team is to be able to beat klefkis and darkrais. Against inexperienced players, they will often dark void on their darkrais instead of subbing first. I switch in this bad boy against them and burn the lum. Once they see the lum is burned they will usually go for the dark void. The magic coat bounces the void and allows arceus to freely set up. Magic coat also helps especially with klefki as well. I feel like stone edge and shadow claw is unneeded but I also need a way to reliably beat klefki hence the magic coat.
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
-
-
This set was inspireddefinitely not copied by one of hunterstorm's team in the sample team thread. I originally had the standard scarf xerneas with the thunder and focus blast but I found myself rarely ever using those skills if ever and struggling against darkrais if I sleeptalk into thunder or focus blast and missed. Then I discovered this set. Moonblast is all the coverage xerneas really needs since it hits extremely hard already with fairy aura and stab there is really no need for focus blast and thunder since they dont bring any notable KOs and you are probably better off just switch in those cases.
Threats:
Klefki is a massive threat to this team. The only real way to deal with it is with magic coat arceus and if arceus had already died revenge killing something I basically lose to this thing.
Darkrai is also a massive threat to this team. If darkrai uses sub before dark void and has rocks on my field. I would have to switch out multiple times to force the switch on darkrai and the rocks will wear my team down quite a bit. If darkrai gets free switchins it can easily dent my team.
Pogre threatens this team with its wall breaking power. The only switchin I have for this is zekrom and mray. Both of those things still take a hefty amount from a resisted origin pulse giving me extreme troubles. My way of dealing with this is just attempt to ohko it with zekrom.
Pdon also gives my team a lot of trouble since my only real switchin is mray and only is a good counter if pdon isnt carrying stone edge or status which can be devastating. Tankceus can also switch in to it although it cannot do anything to pdon. The good thing is that pdon is easily worn out because it has no real recovery which is necessary if I want to clean up with zekrom.
Import:
Overview
Overall this team has been working effectively for me and I will be trying to eventually peak with this team.
At first glance:
Team building:
First I started off Zekrom since I have been trying to make a team based on him for so long because I feel like he has so much potential wall breaking power even without any damage boosting items and has access to volt-switch which is really nice. He is able to act as a scout and a solid wall breaker so I thought he was a good place to start.
Next I decided I wanted to add an Mray which covers Zekroms biggest weakness of Pdon being flying and being able to switch in and KO don with relative ease.
With the team now having 2 dragons I had a large fairy weakness and so I decided to add in Ho-oh to be able to deal with those pesky fairy types while having a good darkrai counter. I also threw in an ekiller to deal with klefkis with lum spam so I dont get rnged to death.
The last two spots are filled with a tankceus normal to deal with ekillers and a xerneas for darks and dragons as well as being able to clean up late game with just one geomancy.
Now my team was pretty solid and I did some testing. I discovered that Ho-oh, although powerful, did not do the job like I wanted. It would quickly get worn down by toxic which some arceus fairy carried and was useless when faced with the threat of xerneas. Additionally, I lacked a stealth rock setter which made the wall breaking power of the likes of Zekrom and Mray less significant and so I replaced Ho-oh with arceus poison.
Closer look at the team:
Zekrom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor
- Volt Switch
Zekrom is one of the best wall breakers I know of right now. As long as it doesn't miss anything he can break through most of the conventional physical walls such as yveltal, skarmary, and lugia. This set can also 2hkos some bulky arceus variants. Bolt Strike the the main stab being able to hit extremely hard and tare holes in teams. Outrage is mainly there for late game clean up since it cannot miss and should only be used once all fairy types and steel types have been taken out. Draco meteor is the main dragon type stab move to be used. Even without investment, it still hit very hard although the special attack drop is somewhat annoying. Volt switch makes him a viable scout lead although pdon switchins can be annoying. The choice scarf gives him the speed of being able to outspeed most of the metagame and ohko anything that it can hit super effective for. Although he is somewhat hard to fit into teams, he is a severely underrated mon and can tare unprepared teams into pieces.
Rayquaza-Mega @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
This guy is the reason that this whole tier was ever created and that alone gives it a good reason to have a spot on this team. This is just the standard dragon dance set and used to deal with zekrom's largest weakness of pdon. It is also nice with the lum berry to be able to deal with klefkis.
Arceus-Poison @ Toxic Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Defog
- Poison Jab
- Recover
This guy's my favorite xerneas counter. It always beats xerneas unless they run psyshock or crit multiple times. The evs and nature is so that you can avoid 2hko from all of xerneas moves except psyshock. Thunder wave is used so that it can slow down set up sweeper that think arc-poison is free set-up. Defog is so that once he comes in against xerneas i can remove hazards. My team isn't particularly weak to stealth rocks so removing rocks are not necessary but defog is still nice to have. Poison jab is there so I can kill xerneas and potentially poison other walls. Even uninvested poison jab 2hkos standard geoxerneas. Recover is for sustain so that it can beat xerneas and not just used for suicide cannon fodder.
Arceus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Recover
I got this idea from Yuga42 and its working exceptionally well. I never knew arc-normal walls arc-normal so well. This build can avoid 2hko from all of arceus' moves at +2 and roar them out. Extreme speed is also nice against Mrays after a dragon ascent it does a respectable amount of damage. Rocky helmet so that it is not as passive against arceus' and rays. I run enough speed to outspeed adamant pdon. Im not sure if the speed is necessary but im not sacrificing too much bulk so it doesnt hurt to run some speed. Overall, this is a very powerful physical wall and is needed to hold this team together.
Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Magic Coat
This is just the standard ekiller. Often i can come in late game and clean up but its main role in this team is to be able to beat klefkis and darkrais. Against inexperienced players, they will often dark void on their darkrais instead of subbing first. I switch in this bad boy against them and burn the lum. Once they see the lum is burned they will usually go for the dark void. The magic coat bounces the void and allows arceus to freely set up. Magic coat also helps especially with klefki as well. I feel like stone edge and shadow claw is unneeded but I also need a way to reliably beat klefki hence the magic coat.
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
-
-
This set was inspired
Threats:
Klefki is a massive threat to this team. The only real way to deal with it is with magic coat arceus and if arceus had already died revenge killing something I basically lose to this thing.
Darkrai is also a massive threat to this team. If darkrai uses sub before dark void and has rocks on my field. I would have to switch out multiple times to force the switch on darkrai and the rocks will wear my team down quite a bit. If darkrai gets free switchins it can easily dent my team.
Pogre threatens this team with its wall breaking power. The only switchin I have for this is zekrom and mray. Both of those things still take a hefty amount from a resisted origin pulse giving me extreme troubles. My way of dealing with this is just attempt to ohko it with zekrom.
Pdon also gives my team a lot of trouble since my only real switchin is mray and only is a good counter if pdon isnt carrying stone edge or status which can be devastating. Tankceus can also switch in to it although it cannot do anything to pdon. The good thing is that pdon is easily worn out because it has no real recovery which is necessary if I want to clean up with zekrom.
Import:
Zekrom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor
- Volt Switch
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
-
-
Arceus-Poison @ Toxic Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Defog
- Poison Jab
- Recover
Arceus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Recover
Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Magic Coat
Rayquaza-Mega @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor
- Volt Switch
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
-
-
Arceus-Poison @ Toxic Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Defog
- Poison Jab
- Recover
Arceus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Recover
Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Magic Coat
Rayquaza-Mega @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
Overview
Overall this team has been working effectively for me and I will be trying to eventually peak with this team.
