Hello everyone, my name is Anthony Jimenez also known as DarkAssassin and this is my first year of competitive battling. I went to a couple of regionals and local tournaments this season but I didn’t have much success other than making top cut in the SoCal regional in Long Beach, CA. Each event has taught me the capabilities of my Pokémon and has taught me how to better predict my opponents. Let’s take a look at the team that I used in most of the Major which I ended up taking first place in.
Team at a Glance
I started making this team after going to the SoCal regional in Long Beach, California. While there, I noticed that there was a lot of Mega Kangaskhans and Rotoms who both gave trouble to my last team. I started to search for a Pokémon who would be able to KO both Kangaskhan and Rotom. I needed the Pokémon to be a special attacker due to the fact that intimidate is fairly common. While searching, I came across Hydreigon who has an amazing base 125 special attack and good stats all around. After making some damage calculations, I knew that he would be “the one.”
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 140 HP / 252 SpA / 116 Speed
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31
Nature: Modest
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon
Hydreigon has always been one of my favorite dragons. It has an awesome design, good stats, and hits like a truck. With Choice Specs, Hydreigon is able to KO 4hp Mega Kangaskhan most of the time (87.5% chance to KO) and is able to KO Rotom as well as many other common Pokémon. 140 EVs in HP allow Hydreigon to take a Dragon Claw from Garchomp even without Intimidate support. The HP EVs also allows it to take a return from adamant Mega Kangaskhan and it KO’s back with Draco Meteor. The remaining EVs were dumped into speed just so it wouldn’t be too slow. My Hydreigon is faster than neutral max speed base 70s and max speed Tyranitar.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 attack / 6 Def
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
Nature: Adamant
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall/Belly Drum
- Protect
Although Hydreigon was able to take on Garchomp (any without Focus Sash) it still had trouble against Salamence. Since Salamence is so common, I knew I would have to find a fairy to switch into its Draco Meteors. That’s when I found Azumarill who not only gets the KO on Salamence, but also helps against Tyranitar who is a huge threat to this team. I originally used it as a bulky physical sweeper, but later changed to a belly drum set. DO NOT USE 252HP ON A BELLY DRUM SET. I found this out the hard way when I faced Bjart in my final match. I wasn’t too experienced with Belly Drum Azumarill and had no idea that you need to have a specific EV spread for belly drum Azumarill. I have to say that I prefer Belly drum Azumarill over a bulky physical sweeper one. Once Azumarill sets up it wrecks teams that aren’t prepared.
Manectric
Ability: Intimidate / Lightningrod
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Speed
IVs: 31/30/30/31/31/31
Nature: Timid
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Hidden power (Ice)
- Protect
To increase Hydreigon’s and Azumarill’s survivability, I decided to use Mega Manectric. Manectric not only has Lightning Rod allowing it to redirect electric attacks that might be aimed at Azumarill, but it also has Intimidate when it mega evolves. Volt Switch allowed me to spam Intimidate which I often took advantage of. It made Hydreigon even bulkier on the physical side allowing it to take up to five spread Rock Slides from max attack Tyranitar. I decided to go with a max speed Manectric because it allowed me to outspeed Garchomp turn 1. Mega Manectric has about a 50/50 chance of getting the KO on Garchomp with HP Ice preventing Garchomp from damaging Hydreigon.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 6 SpD
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/0
Nature: Quiet
- King’s Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute
Aegislash’s main purpose in my team is to get rid of any Fairy types that might threaten Hydreigon. Gardevoir in particular was the fairy I was worried about. Gardevoir not only KOs Hydreigon but it does a ton of damage to the rest of my team. Aegislash was also a good switch in to Salamence in cases where I didn’t have Azumarill and was a good check for the common Mega Kangaskhan+Salamence lead.
Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVS: 6Hp / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
IVS: 31/31/31/31/31/31
Nature: Adamant
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Dance
- Protect
Honestly, Dragon Dance Tyranitar was used as a second option whenever I knew that I wouldn’t be able to use Hydreigon. I got the idea from my older brother, Legacy, who had a lot of success using Dragon Dance Tyranitar and I thought I would give it a try. Tyranitar also paired well with Mega Manectric because it could take out Mega Manectric’s biggest nightmare, Rotom H. Mega Manectric’s Intimidate combined with sandstorm would also allow Tyranitar to take most super effective hits. When I predicted Tyranitar to be hit by a super effective hit, I would often go for the Dragon Dance and then try to finish the game with my +3 in Atk and +1 in speed Tyranitar.
Ability: Effect Spore
EVS: 252Hp/6Def/ 252 SpDef
IVS: 31/31/31/31/31/0
Nature: Sassy
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga drain
- Protect
Amoonguss is the last member of my team who was often used to redirect moves to itself. Amoongus redirected Will-O-Wisps headed towards Tyranitar and Azumarill and it also redirected Draco meteors headed towards Hydreigon. Now I know what you are guys are thinking. Why the heck are you using Effect Spore over Regenerator? The answer is simple. It’s because I was too lazy to breed for an Amoongus with Regenerator. It was not until the finals against Bjart where I switched to a Sassy Amoongus with Regenerator and a spread of 252 HP/62Def/196 SpDef. The SpDef EVs allowed my Amoongus to survive an Overheat from Max SpA Rotom H while the rest of EVs were just dumped in defense and HP.
Team Combos and Strategies
The overall goal of this team is to hit hard and get the battle over with in just a few minutes. Both Azumarill and Tyranitar could sweep unprepared teams after they set up and Hydreigon hits almost everything hard with Choice Specs. Manectric and Amoonguss bring great support to my three sweepers and Aegislash is a good switch in to most of their weaknesses.
Manectric works well with anyone in my team. It redirects electric attacks from Azumarill and can do serious damage to grass types that might threaten it. With Intimidate, it can help anyone in my team take a physical hit and they can then retaliate back. It can take on some dragons that might threaten Hydreigon and gets rid of Talonflames that threaten Amoonguss.
Whenever I knew that I wouldn’t be able to bring in Hydreigon, I would use Amoonguss and either Tyranitar or Azumarill. Both Tyranitar and Azumarill can sweep unprepared teams after setting up and Amoonguss can redirect any hit aimed at them. The plan here is to start off with Manectric and either Tyranitar or Azumarill and then Volt Switch into Amoonguss and set up. Afterwards, I would just spam Rage Powder while my Tyranitar or Azumarill would sweep.
Conclusion
Although I haven’t had much success this season, I have learned a lot about competitive battling. I would also like to thank my older brother, Legacy, for helping me finalize this team and my good friend, gengarboi, who encouraged me throughout the rounds. Thank you and I hope you guys enjoyed reading my article.
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