ORAS Ubers Uber Red Menace (Mega-Scizor Balanced)

[SuperSheikah]

Introduction​

Having not made an Ubers team since the BW2 days but still monitoring the new threats to be seen in the tier, I decided to try my hand at making an ORAS Ubers team which could compete with other well-made teams in the tier. While this is certainly not the first draft of this team, this is the version of it which has been able to perform best up to this point. I am making this RMT thread in order to potentially receive feedback as to how I can improve this team to better suit its performance as a Balanced Offensive team used primarily for laddering purposes.

Teambuilding Process​

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As with many ubers teams in ORAS, the obvious first selection for my ubers team is the ever-present Primal Groudon. Its excellent ability in Primordial Sun along with its natural bulk allow it to perform extremely well in both offensive and defensive roles, and for my team in particular a support set was used in order to have a solid setter of Stealth Rock who is still able to function offensively in order to check certain pokemon such as Ho-Oh and Genesect.

The second pokemon to be added to this team is a support-based Arceus-Ghost. Ghost was used over other support Arceus formes in order for it to better check Extreme Killer Arceus and Mega Kangaskhan. Arceus-Ghost was also chosen to act as this team's defogger which, while limiting coverage options is necessary for this team.

Rounding out the core of this team is a pokemon just as metagame defining as Primal Groudon, Xerneas. I had decided early on not to use a Geomancy set for this pokemon, as while it is extremely powerful, it is also arguably the most prepared for set in all of ORAS. As such, Xerneas was selected as the Choice Scarf user of this team, with the responsibility of quickly eliminating Dark and Dragon types with Moonblast, while also being able to function as an emergency cleric with Aromatherapy. It is important to note, however, that this is not intended to be used as a sleep absorbing set.

With Xerneas being used as a Choice Scarf user and Arceus-Ghost having a support moveset, this team was in need of some wallbreaking prowess. Latios was the first selection to fill this role in the Special Attacking slot. Latios combined with Soul Dew makes his attacks hit exceptionally hard while being bulky to opposing special attackers even without investment. Additionally, Latios fills the role of a much-needed Primal Groudon check. Latios should be aggressively switched in to opposing Primal Groudon, and either hit it with a Draco Meteor or hit something else with Psyshock on a predicted switch.

Filling the role of physical wallbreaker on this team is Ho-Oh. When equipped with a Choice Band Ho-Oh's attacks deal massive damage, while his ability in Regenerator keeps him healthy throughout the match. Also of note is that this Ho-Oh functions as the sleep absorber for this team, carrying Sleep Talk in its moveset. Ho-Oh should be switched in to opposing Darkrai and use Sleep Talk in order to OHKO it, halting a possible sweep. The Achilles' Heel for all Ho-Oh teams is Stealth Rock, and this team is no different. Therefore, it is very important to keep Arceus healthy if Stealth Rocks are on the field, as switching in Ho-Oh becomes impossible when these are in play.

Five pokemon in and still no proper Xerneas check, Mega Scizor was selected as the final piece of this team. This is due to his great bulk, ability to 2HKO Xerneas with priority Bullet Punch, ability to trap other threats with Pursuit, and ability to cripple walls with Toxic. While Scizor may not be as strong a Mega as something like a Mega Salamence, the utility Mega Scizor brings to this team cannot be stated enough.

The Team​

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Roar
​

This team uses a support set for Primal Groudon, who functions primarily as this team's Stealth Rock setter, and switch in to various things such as Genesect, Kyogre, and Xerneas. The given EVs are used in order to survive a hit from a +2 Xerneas Focus Blast after stealth rock and phaze it with Roar. Earthquake is used over Precipice Blades for its accuracy, but due to the lack of investment Stone Edge needs to be used over Rock Slide in order to score the OHKO on opposing Ho-Oh. Roar is used mainly to phaze Xerneas, but it is also useful against boosting Arceus sets and Mega Gengar.

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Judgment
- Recover
​

Arceus-Ghost serves as this team's defogger as well as a general switch-in to threats such as Mega-Kangaskhan and Extreme Killer Arceus. Though this is a supportive set, maximum speed is used in order to speed tie with opposing max speed Arceus, and hopefully burn it with Will-O-Wisp after winning a speed tie. Defog is used in order to clear hazards, Will-O-Wisp is used liberally against numerous physical threats, including the aformentioned Mega-Kangaskhan and Arceus. Judgment is used as the STAB move of choice, which, while unable to actually damage normal types, Arceus can still stall them out with a combination of Will-O-Wisp and Recover, which Arceus-Ghost uses to stay healthy.

Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 156 HP / 56 Def / 208 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Grass Knot
- Thunder
- Aromatherapy
​

The Choice Scarf variant of Xerneas was selected for this team in order to function as a hybrid revenge killer and wallbreaker without the need for a boost from Geomancy. The given EV spreads are selected in order to survive a hit from a +1 Return from Mega Salamence, a pokemon which would otherwise completely shut this team down, while still outspeeding max speed Darkrai. Most of the time Moonblast will be used here due to the boost from Fairy Aura and STAB, while Thunder is used to break Ho-Oh, Lugia, and Kyogre, and Grass Knot is used almost exclusively for Primal Groudon. Aromatherapy is used in order to provide emergency cleric support, usually due to Latios being paralyzed or Arceus being Toxic'd.

Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost
​

Latios is used as the main special wallbreaker and source of offense for this team alongside his physical counterpart Ho-Oh. 252 Special Attack EVs with a Modest Nature are used in order to allow Latios to get the most out of Soul Dew. Draco Meteor is used as a nuke which hits many threats, such as Primal Groudon, hard, if not outright OHKOing them. Psyshock is used as a secondary STAB move which is used in place of Draco Meteor on either a predicted switch (usually Xerneas) or when it hits super-effectively, such as on Mega-Gengar. Hidden Power Fire is used in order to hit opposing Scizor and Ferrothorn, while Roost is used in order to keep Latios healthy throughout the match, and it also has the benefit of not allowing sucker punch from Mega-Kangaskhan and Yvetal to be used, which can come in handy in a pinch.

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Atk / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
​

Ho-Oh functions as this team's sleep absorber and physical wallbreaker. The given EV spread is used in order to hit as hard as possible while surviving a +2 Thunder from Xerneas and outspeeding a Diancie on the turn it mega evolves. Brave Bird is the primary STAB move on this set, which combined with a Choice Band hits anything that doesn't resist it extremely hard. Sacred Fire is the secondary STAB move, and the move of choice against pokemon who hate being afflicted with burns, such as Arceus or Lugia if Scizor is not available. Earthquake covers primarily Primal Groudon and Dialga, while Sleep Talk is used in order to allow Ho-Oh to function as a sleep absorber while OHKOing (or more often, breaking Focus Sash) Darkrai with any of the three moves it selects.

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Atk / 200 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Toxic
- Roost
​

Mega Scizor serves the role of countering specific threats to this team, including Xerneas and Lati@s without HP Fire, Deoxys-S, Deoxys-A, Mega Gengar without Will-O-Wisp, Lugia, and Mega Diancie. The given EVs and Nature allow Mega Scizor to 2HKO Xerneas while being as specially bulky as possible, while Light Metal is used as the ability pre-mega evolution for the rare scenario where Scizor switches into either a Grass Knot or a Low Kick. Bullet Punch is used primarily to kill either Xerneas or Diancie, as well as revenge kill anything which has been weakened enough. Pursuit is used in order to trap all of the aformentioned threats, doing solid damage to each of them bar Lugia. Toxic is used over U-Turn explicitly because of this team's inability to otherwise kill Lugia. Essentially, this team needs to have Scizor switch in to Lugia, cripple it with Toxic, and spam Pursuit until it either dies or leaves. Toxic can also be used in order to hit common switch-ins such as Primal Groudon. Roost is used in order to keep Scizor healthy while walling threats such as the aforementioned Lugia.

Conclusion​

So there stands my current best effort at an Ubers team for ORAS. This team is certainly not without flaws, two large threats in particular to the team which remain are Dragon Dance Salamene with Double Edge and Rock Polish Primal Groudon with Stone Edge and Dragon Claw. Originally, this team's Xerneas had a much higher speed stat and special attack, but the team's inability to deal with Salamence required it to gain more bulk in order to at least survive a hit from Return and OHKO in response. Primal Groudon remains incredibly troublesome, however. With the ability to OHKO both Latios and Ho-Oh and Xerneas' inability to kill it, it can easily rip holes through this team. However, I am happy to accept any criticisms and/or suggestions to improve this team, as I really do enjoy playing with it.

Importable

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Roar

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Judgment
- Recover

Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 156 HP / 56 Def / 208 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Grass Knot
- Thunder
- Aromatherapy

Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Atk / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Atk / 200 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Toxic
- Roost

 

[oversway]

nice team dude. imo mega sciz is underrated in ubers rn. first thing I would suggest is giving Xerneas enough speed to outrun max speed Deo-A (iirc 248), which will be helpful vs hyper offense builds, which your team currently struggles with. I would also change the set to Moonblast/Sleep Talk/Geomancy, ensuring you always pull moonblast if asleep. you could even run geomancy, giving you a win condition while you still have ho-oh to switch into and deal with darkrai; however the downside of this is you would miss out on some speed control. u-turn should be used over purusit on Scizor, lati twins aren't a problem since arc/ho-oh/xerneas can all take hits and sciz gives way too many things free switchins without u-turn to maintain momentum. if you're worried about mence I would run arceus-rock over arceus-ghost, this lets you maintain an ekiller and kang answer which dealing with mence and ho-oh better, which also gives your team trouble. i understand you're concerned about accuracy but precipice blades is almost always superior to earthquake on pdon so you can actually 2hko stuff like pogre and xerneas. finally if you replace ghostceus with rockceus i would replace hp fire on lati with defog and give rockceus either calm mind or toxic, since Ho-Oh needs rocks off the field to check mluke, which otherwise sweeps you, and lati performs this function better than rockceus due to its ability to defog on most rocks pdon.

 

[Melle2402]

Dont use this Xerneas set lol Ho-oh shits on a +0 Thunder (208+ SpA Xerneas Thunder vs. 248 HP / 52 SpD Ho-Oh: 170-202 (40.9 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO).
Grass Knot is also not good on scarfed Xerneas. You said its good for Pdon, but there is just a 6-8% difference between Moonblast and Grass knot
208+ SpA Xerneas Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 200 SpD Primal Groudon: 124-147 (30.6 - 36.3%) -- 59.3% chance to 3HKO
208+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 200 SpD Primal Groudon: 98-116 (24.2 - 28.7%) -- 98.7% chance to 4HKO

I suggest the standard Choice Scarf set with Moonblast and Sleep Talk. Also what's your Ho-oh switch in? If you want to use Arceus with Defog better use Waterceus or Rockceus.

 

[Hoodoom]

Hi, SuperSheikah
His team is great. I'm not sure how viable is MSizor in Ubers, but to catch MGengar with Pursuit's fine. But I think that with so much spam Primal Groudon, etc do little.

Honestly your team is so solid that needs no help. Well, the previous reviews have said enough for good. All I see is to change the set of Ho-Oh the Tank LO and Sleep Talk Xerneas Darkrai Dark Void. If you can be with a speed that exceeds Deox-A. Aromatherapy in a Scarf set is feasible but not recommended. It is preferable Moonblast spam.

The change proposed Dominatio of RockCeus is very good. You suffer to the same Yveltal / MMence and Ho-Oh, so it is a efecitva response, and the use of Defog it. You can also take Latios, it is a matter of taste.

 

[SuperSheikah]

nice team dude. imo mega sciz is underrated in ubers rn. first thing I would suggest is giving Xerneas enough speed to outrun max speed Deo-A (iirc 248), which will be helpful vs hyper offense builds, which your team currently struggles with. I would also change the set to Moonblast/Sleep Talk/Geomancy, ensuring you always pull moonblast if asleep. you could even run geomancy, giving you a win condition while you still have ho-oh to switch into and deal with darkrai; however the downside of this is you would miss out on some speed control. u-turn should be used over purusit on Scizor, lati twins aren't a problem since arc/ho-oh/xerneas can all take hits and sciz gives way too many things free switchins without u-turn to maintain momentum. if you're worried about mence I would run arceus-rock over arceus-ghost, this lets you maintain an ekiller and kang answer which dealing with mence and ho-oh better, which also gives your team trouble. i understand you're concerned about accuracy but precipice blades is almost always superior to earthquake on pdon so you can actually 2hko stuff like pogre and xerneas. finally if you replace ghostceus with rockceus i would replace hp fire on lati with defog and give rockceus either calm mind or toxic, since Ho-Oh needs rocks off the field to check mluke, which otherwise sweeps you, and lati performs this function better than rockceus due to its ability to defog on most rocks pdon.

Thanks for the quick reply. I agree that switching to an Arceus Rock would definitely be a good choice for dealing with Ho-Oh and Salamence more effectively, but how reliably does it check ekiller? Even bulky sets still take ~70% from a life orb Earthquake, so winning that speed tie is critical on a max speed set in order to avoid being one shot on a switch into a swords dance. However, doing this would allow me to use a more standard scarf Xerneas set since I would no longer need those odd EV spreads. So, would switching to a support Arceus-Rock, using Defog over HP Fire on Lati, and giving pdon Lava Plume over Stone Edge be advisable? This would essentially give me another semi-reliable burn spreader while Arceus would cover the loss of rock coverage for Ho-Oh. I know Scizor without U-Turn could lead to momentum problems, but if I lose Pursuit my team becomes much weaker against Gengar and I lose the ability to trap the Deoxys formes which would otherwise switch out, so I'm not too sure I like this change. Thanks again for the feedback!

Dont use this Xerneas set lol Ho-oh shits on a +0 Thunder (208+ SpA Xerneas Thunder vs. 248 HP / 52 SpD Ho-Oh: 170-202 (40.9 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO).
Grass Knot is also not good on scarfed Xerneas. You said its good for Pdon, but there is just a 6-8% difference between Moonblast and Grass knot
208+ SpA Xerneas Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 200 SpD Primal Groudon: 124-147 (30.6 - 36.3%) -- 59.3% chance to 3HKO
208+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 200 SpD Primal Groudon: 98-116 (24.2 - 28.7%) -- 98.7% chance to 4HKO

I suggest the standard Choice Scarf set with Moonblast and Sleep Talk. Also what's your Ho-oh switch in? If you want to use Arceus with Defog better use Waterceus or Rockceus.

I understand there is only a 6-8% difference, but it is still a difference. The reason Sleep Talk is not used on Xerneas is because Ho-Oh uses it instead, hence the other coverage moves. There's not really a reason to not use Grass Knot for this reason, except for Focus Blast which hits Dialga harder than Moonblast, but it has accuracy issues and Dialga is still 2HKOd by Moonblast while Xern can survive a Flash Cannon. I do agree that using Rock Arceus is better for Ho-Oh, as to answer your question this team does not really have a reliable switch, aside from switching Groudon into a predicted Sacred Fire, but even that is not exactly desirable.

 

[oversway]

Neither deo-a nor Gengar is really a problem, since Scizor takes any hit from the former and can easily roost off damage while the ladder is countered by Ho-Oh and Groudon. If you want to keep Pursuit it doesn't really hurt your team either so that's just personal choice. Ghostceus doesn't always reliably check ekiller either, since +2 shadow claw is a 2hko even if you burn it after the first one. Another problem with using Ghostceus to check ekiller is you lose to bulky Recover variants. If you're concerned about ekiller becoming an issue you could also run Gira-O over lati as a secondary ekiller check while retaining the ground immunity and Defog.

 

[Omfuga]

I suggest the standard Choice Scarf set with Moonblast and Sleep Talk. Also what's your Ho-oh switch in? If you want to use Arceus with Defog better use Waterceus or Rockceus.

Nothing much to add except that u should use geomancy on sleep talk/moonblast scarf xern too oo

Scizor is one of my favorite megas in ubers and I actually like this build so I might tweek it and reuse hue

 

[Arii Stella]

Hey there, another scizor fan here. n_n
I've built a similar version and I think Scizor can still shine in ORAS although it's hard to build around it because of the mount of threats in the current metagame.
You've already have many good rates but if you don't mind I still want to give you mine.
I like Domi's rate, his suggestion of running Rockceus over Ghostceus is very good as it offers your team solid Flying coverage (Ho-Oh, Salamence, Rayquaza, Yveltal etc.) but I completely understand your point, the team has issues to deal with physical attackers such as Primal-Groudon SD and Arceus-Normal which is why I mainly suggest you to replace Latios and use Giratina-O and Ho-Oh with Landorus-T. This amazing core aside from being good checks to the aforementioned threats due to the bulk investment on Tina-O and the combination of Intimidate + U-turn Lando-T give your team momentum. This allows your team to be even more balanced as Lando-T can now be used as your new Choice Scarf user which allows you to use the ever so deadly Geomancy Xerneas as opposed to the scarf variant you currently run.

+

+

Giratina-O + Landorus-T + Xerneas sets

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 212 Def / 228 SpA / 68 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Draco Meteor
- Defog

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Sleep Talk

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 200 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunder / Focus Blast
- Aromatherapy
- Geomancy

Overall, cool team thanks for share it, good luck and hope I helped!

 

[Ash and Charizard]

Nice team :) , I Can see GhostCeus as your Ekiller check but Ekiller often contains a Shadow Force or Shadow Claw with LO or LumBerry . LO users often runs Jolly Nature Which can Speed tie and cause troubles and Lum Berry Can Prevent a Burn from your GhostCeus and Kill GhostCeus. If you want a Better Defogger Try DragonCeus , WaterCeus , GroundCeus or RockCeus ( DragonCeus seems good for me ) . Change your Xern Move set to MoonBlast and Sleep talk. Dont Remove Scarf from Xern so it can Kill Darkrai. Latios with Soul Dew is a nice WallBreaker but Try to Remove Ho-Oh Because You have already a Good WallBreaker with you so it is enough. To kill Extreme Killers Try Skarmory with Spikes or a Defensive Yveltal ( Skarmory is the best Ekiller Checker out there but If you want to kill the Set Up variants of Opposing Primal Groudon , Then try a Defensive Yveltal ). I Hope i helped you a Bit :)