SM Ubers Z-Xernas + M-Salamence Team

[Zlatan10]

Hi guys, this is the first team that I posted on Smogon. I've played a lot of games on ORAS Ubers and when SuMo was released I started played the same tier in this game. So, this is the first team that really worked on Showdown, after many try, many failure and the help of Strategy Pokedex.

Team Building

I've started the team with Mega Salamence and Z-Geomancy Xerneas having already in mind what set I would give to them.

Then, i add pokemon that can destroy steel-types pokemon that could give problems to my fist two pokemon.

Then I need a pokemon who can defog the Stealth Rock and one that counter Geomancy Xerneas. I choose Arceus-Water and Ferrothorn.

For the final pokemon i choose Tyranitar because he can set the Rock and make a bit of coverage for the team.

Xerneas @ Fairium Z
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aromatherapy
- Ingrain
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
After a Z-Geomancy Xerneas gain 2.5x in SDef, SAtk and Speed, making him very difficult to block. I prefer Aromatherapy over Rest because I don't wanna lose two turns. Ingrain give to Xerneas a bit of recover and protect him for Roar. Moonblast is the only offensive move. The Evs are designed to protect the physical side.

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Return
- Facade
M-Mence is the physical beast of this team. DDance and Roost are standard, I chose Return over Double Edge because i don't want recoil and Facade because I want switch-in the fire attack safe. Max HP to survive from an uninvested Ice Beam from Arceus and 124 evs in speed to outspeed 90-base speed maxed.

Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Swords Dance
- Low Kick
- Flare Blitz
The Steel Killer. He have Protect+Sword Dance to beat the hell out of pokemon, with only fight+fire coverage. Evs standard to maximize Speed and Attack, Life orb to amplify the damage.

Arceus-Water @ Splash Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Toxic
- Defog
- Judgment
Standard set. I don't use Ice Beam because I don't have 5 moves on this pokemon and i need the other 4 moves. Maximize bulk and def after outspeed all 90-base pokemon. I usually start with him when i see P-Don

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
Rocky Helmet+Iron Bars make a lot of damage on physical sweeper, leech seed is for recover, protect to stall, spikes is always helpful, Gyro ball is the only offensive moves. Maximize SDef and HP for tank on Xerneas

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 248 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Rock Slide
- Roar
The final pokemon on this team. SRock setter, Roar is always helpful, Pursuit is STAB and traps pokemon, Rock Slide is the other STAB that hurts Ho-oh. Maximize SDef and Sand Stream makes residual damage.

Thank you for your help guys!

 

[Arii Stella]

Hai nice team you got here~ Z-Xerneas + Mega Salamence is always a cool offensive core and having hazards support is really nice to wear down a few defensive threats that don't have reliable recovery such as support Primal Groudon or Magearna.

However, I think you get easily pressured by HO teams and opposing Primal Groudon is a bit annoying with the lack of a resist. I know that Toxic is used to chip some damage on Primal Groudon but Arceus-Water can't directly touch or stop offensive Primal Groudon variants which means that it can almost turn into a setup fodder forcing you to send Salamence as an auxiliary PDon check while losing momentum since Mega Salamence's main role (especially in a balance team) is either sweep or pressure in mid-late game alongside with Xerneas.
Another issue I have with the team is you've included an unnecessary and fragile Blaziken, even though its typing might help against Steel-types, this Pokemon doesn't fit at all in a balance like this one because it is very easy to wall and easy to wear down.

Aite, in terms of fixing this, you should consider Defog Arceus-Ground over Defog Arceus-Water in order to improve the match-up against offensive Primal Groudon. Groundceus is a great defogger who is also able to limit opposing Primal Groudon from having its way as it can KO it with Judgment, Ice Beam helps against Dragon-types like Mega Salamence and Rayquaza and yes, I know this set gives opposing Ho-Oh too much room it's not a problem as you already have two solid checks of it.

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Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Defog
- Judgment

Running a bulky offensive Primal Groudon instead of Blaziken is a better and great option because unlike Blaziken, PDon offers an excelent coverage and movepool due its typing and amazing stats, and at the same time it can be used as a potential physical attacker, all this makes it work even more effective as it's also able to check many Pokemon like Steel-types, Primal Kyogre and the HP + SpD investment allows it to check opposing Xerneas as well.

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Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 104 HP / 200 Atk / 120 SpD / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch
- Precipice Blades

Optimization.

• Leftovers > Rocky Helmet. I think Ferrothorn needs recover its health as much as possible to avoid 2HKOes moves since you need to keep it healthy because it's your main Xerneas answer.
• Chople Berry > Leftovers. I'd prefer Chople Berry Tyranitar to make sure that opposing Lunala and Mega Gengar aren't going to surprise with Focus Blast.

Hope I helped, good luck with your team! n_n

 

[Zlatan10]

Thanks for your help guy :) I will try Arceus-Ground over the Water one and PDon over Blaziken, even if I hate that pokemon because everyone use it. I prefer use the Helmet because it's really dangerous with Iron Barbs but i will try the berry on Tyranitar. Thanks a lot :)