Battle Spot: Mega Banette Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build as of Gen 6

• Ability – Frisk → Prankster
• Stats – Attack (252), HP (252), Special Defence (4)
• Nature – Adamant
• Item – Banettite Stone
• Move set – Phantom Force (stab), Sucker Punch, Knock Off, Destiny Bond

When Banette was announced to have a mega evolution, I was quite curious on how much it would be improved. It certainly got a massive Attack stat boost and Prankster ability, making it more useful and a threat when used correctly, but its overall defences and Speed say otherwise so it's still quite fragile. So that being said, using Mega Banette is really difficult and really need good support from its partner to stay on the battlefield. And with the given stats, it can go either a Prankster-centric or full offense Pokemon, which I prefer. 

Strength

With Prankster at its disposal, the marionette has full of tricks up its sleeves (literally). It has access to many great status moves such as Curse, Grudge, Torment, Confuse Ray, Pain Split, Disable, Taunt, Toxic, Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave. If you're going for a full Prankster build, you could surprise your opponent and keep them guessing with those moves. 

Speaking of ability, you would also want to get your Banette with Frisk ability over Insomnia because it helps to identify who are holding mega stones or other important items like Life Orb, Leftovers and etc. 

Ah, how can we forget the 165 Attack stat upgrade and a new move Phantom Force which seriously badass and truly monstrous, more on that later.

Weakness

Although it's granted Prankster ability, it’s also noted that Mega Banette does not get Prankster ability on the first round upon mega-evolving which is quite and a bit unfair honestly since Mega Sableye automatically gets Magic Bounce on first-turn after all. To add on to that, there are actually better Prankster Pokemon than Mega Banette like Sableye and Whimsicott.

As for the stat build, it’s recommended to pump in HP fully instead of Speed it’s because even if gets maxed it will still get outspeed by many Pokemon regardless and be very vulnerable. Maximizing your HP is your only chance of keeping it alive for as long as possible, especially from strong physical attackers.

Moveset

Phantom Force is the strongest move and I prefer it over Shadow Claw for a pretty good reason. Although it works like Dig and Dive, what makes Phantom Force special is that it also ignores Protect, Detect, King’s Shield, Spiky Shield and Mat Block which is the highlight, but still can’t touch Normal-type, of course. Using Phantom Force also indirectly shields Mega Banette from incoming attacks from slower Pokemon.

To compensate for its average Speed stat, Sucker Punch should be included and it’s actually stronger than Shadow Sneak even with STAB. In addition, Knock Off is fantastic with Frisk and does quite an amount of damage especially on other Trick Room users which usually resulting OHKO'ing them.

Lastly, among all the support moves (as mentioned in Strength), Destiny Bond is probably the best support move for Prankster as it can surprise and bring down key threatening Pokemon whenever it's ready to faint, but it will be quite predictable over time to trainers who remember. Nonetheless, trainers can be forgetful sometimes so when they gleefully take down Mega Banette, you also get to bring your opponent down with you to hell.

Closing thoughts

With such huge Attack stat boost, I simply couldn't ignore that gift so that's why I think it should go for an all-out attack despite its many supportive moves. Similarly to Malamar, Mega Banette can be in both Trick Room or mixed Doubles to cause a great disturbance with Prankster. A perfect partner for the doll is one who can abuse Rage Powder or Follow Me since it's so fragile, along with a Fighting or Fairy Pokemon that can deal with Dark-types, or even better, switch in a Pokemon who has Justified ability like Terrakion. 

So Mega Banette, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Malamar Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of ORAS

• Ability – Contrary
• Stats – HP (252), Attack (252), Defence (4)
• Nature – Adamant/Brave
• Item – Lum Berry
• Moveset – Psycho Cut (stab), Knock Off (stab), Superpower, Protect/Topsy-Turvy

Malamar is one of those Pokemon that seems to be in the middle, the stats distribution are quite balanced overall and so because of this, you are allowed to come up with a few builds for it like a Careful Malamar, Speedster Supporter, Assault Malamar and others. In this build, we will see how well Malamar is used in a Trick Room setting and Doubles.

Strength
The only reason you want to use this jelly penguin is for its Contrary ability. Oh, the opponent has Intimidate? Throw that thing in there and it will get an Attack boost by one stage. Not only that, it will automatically increase any stat by a stage if it gets hit by a move that decreases any of the stats. For example, if it gets hit by Icy Wind then it will boost its Speed instead of being nerfed and so on. I think if you can set up a partner that can spam stat reduction moves like Baby-Doll Eyes or Fake Tears, you can really abuse this ability to the max and set terror.

Pumping the Speed stat is alright I guess but it's more beneficial with HP so that it can benefit from Superpower's Defence boost, as for its nature this is a tricky one because there are times you won't be able to pull off a Trick Room safely, so in this case, I went with Adamant nature.

In addition, Dark/Psychic typing is truly unique and it's only weak to Bug and Fairy.

Weakness
That being said though, the weakness to Bug is actually x4 and it hurts really bad. Although Bug-type moves are not that common, but U-Turn is and a lot of fast Pokemon such as Thunderous and Talonflame are known for using U-Turn. So know thy enemy, because sometimes you can get caught off guard. 

The second problem is facing Fairies, Superpower and Knock Off aren't gonna do a scratch on a Fairy-type Pokemon and your only chance is using Psycho Cut which does subliminal damage when crit is not coming out. Strong Special Attackers are a threat too since its Special Defence are just average

Malamar users don't really need to be afraid of an Unaware Pokemon, since only two Pokemon use that ability - Clefable (basically an anti-Malamar, although trainers would rather use Magic Guard ability) and Quagsire (a rarity). 

Oh yeah, Lum Berry is a must have to cure burn status as it's a popular target for Will o' Wisp users. 

Moveset
To make the best out of Contrary, Superpower is a must have as it will certainly boost both Attack and Defence by 1 stage. In a long-term battle, it will become a powerful physical tanker and attacker due to its respectable HP, Attack and Defence stats.

Psycho Cut is its main stab move for obvious reasons. And Knock Off was chosen over Night Slash because thanks to the Gen-6 move mechanic improvement, making it one of the best opening Dark-type moves to have in the metagame;  not only you get to 'knock off' important items from your opponent, it's also great on targeting Psychic and Ghost-type Pokemon who plans to use Trick Room as generally, their Defences are quite low. 

There is one more move that is worth mentioning too, which is its signature move Topsy-Turvy. Topsy-Turvy is a very interesting move because it’s designed to troll players who attempt to set up. For example, if you meet an opponent who does Sword Dance; using Topsy-Turvy on it will reverse the effect, meaning it will become -2 instead of +2. I've used Topsy-Turvy a couple of times and it should never be underestimated, when used effectively it can turn the tide of the game. It should be also noted that it can reverse your allies’ stat change as well, such as Draco Meteor users #winkwink but then again, I like to play safe so I prefer Protect. 

Closing thoughts

(image credit to gndillustrations)

Malamar is definitely a decent Pokemon that can be used in any kind of team build like Trick Room or a mixed Doubles (better for a mixed Doubles from my experience), and I have a lot of fond memories using it. One of its greatest wins was using Topsy_Turvy on a Mega Mawile who already used Sword Dance, it couldn't switch out due to the lack of partners, so I just Superpowered it into oblivion and became ridiculously strong. Ah, glorious.

So Malamar, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Parasect Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as off Gen 6

• Ability – Dry Skin
• Stats – HP (252), Defence (126), Special Defence (126), Attack (4)
• Nature – Brave
• Item – Focus Sash
• Moveset – Leech Seed (stab), Bug Bite (stab), Spore, Protect

In the Pokemon kingdom, Spore users reign terror on every trainer because of that 100% sleep accuracy. There are currently three Pokemon that can learn Spore. First, we have the overused tank Amoongus. Secondly, the 'grass' cannon Breloom who possesses an extremely high Attack stat and is capable of dealing massive damage with Technician ability combining with Bullet Seed. Thheeennnn, we have Parasect. 

#cricketsound

Parasect is largely ignored for good reasons. It’s as slow as Amoongus, but between the two, Parasect has several type weaknesses due to its Bug/Grass type and a not-so-impressive HP, Defence and SpD stats. Even its respectable Attack stat remains inferior to Breloom. Despite these, it’s still usable as long as it has a compatible partner(s), a Focus Sash, and being in Trick Room...or does it?

Nope, Parasect is just not cut out for a Trick Room team. And I'll tell you why.

Strength

Assuming we're going for a Trick Room build, Parasect is best used against physical attackers due to its ability Effect Spore, I've used it a couple of times against Mega Kangaskan when it Fake Out twice, causing it to cripple with either Paralyze, Sleep or Poison. What's more, it has some good resistance against Fighting, Water, Grass, Electric and especially Ground (x4). 

Ah, of course, there's Spore as well. Scary af. Not to mention, it's immune to Rage Powder and Spore too so that's nice. Not so shabby there, huh?

Weakness

Now for its weakness...oh boy, how do I even begin? Although it does 'ok' against physical attackers, its dual typing also opens a glaring 6 weaknesses - Fire (x4), Flying (x4), Poison, Rock, Ice and Bug. Also, the stats distribution between HP, Defence and SpD is just BAD. So bad, and even worst against Special Attackers which Effort Spore can't be used.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how horrible Parasect is, defensively. So because of this, it's easily replaceable by other better bulky Grass-types like Amoongus, Tangrowth, even Vileplume and many others. 

Moveset
In addition, for a Trick Room attacker, it lacks several options and its only best moves are Seed Bomb (which you must learn from a move tutor) and X-Scissors. 

For the third move, there's nothing much to consider actually. Bug Bite is not strong enough, Cross Poison? Uhh...Brick Break could do something I guess, even Flail doesn't do much damage with Focus Sash equipped (because it's a normal-type move). So that leaves Knock Off for some support damage or Spore which I prefer. 


Speaking of Spore, Parasect actually possesses a lot of supporting moves, like Wide Guard (egg move), Leech Seed, Synthesis, Worry Seed, Rage Powder, Aromatherapy, Poison and Stun Powder. 

Closing thoughts

Honestly, Parasect is best used in a Rainy Team due to Dry Skin ability + Leech Seed, along with your partner spamming Surf all round. It does a much better role in supporting rather than in an offensive Trick Room team, if only its dual typing changes to just Bug-type then it might still have its usefulness, but oh well...it is what it is. 

So Parasect, I choose you (for a Rainy Team in Doubles)! Glhf.

Battle Spot: Ariados Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

• Ability – Insomnia
• Stats – HP (252), Attack (252), Defence (4)
• Nature – Adamant 
• Item – Life Orb/Focus Sash
• Moveset – Megahorn (stab), Poison Jab (stab), Sucker Punch, Protect

With just slightly below average stats and a mediocre Attack stat, this is one Pokemon that many players do not have in mind. BUT, thanks to Trick Room, new Fairy-type preys, Steel-type defense nerf (to Sucker Punch), and new egg moves; this eight four-legged freak case file is revisited once again. Ariados can be divided into two builds, one is for stalling and another for Trick Room offense, but offense is more favored due to its Attack stat and slowness so better take advantage of that.

Strength
With Amoongus, Breloom and Smeagle running around putting Pokemon to sleep, Insomnia ability is a much-preferred choice as it prevents sleep status 24/7, while Sniper only activates when crit hits.

Sniper may look like an ideal ability to have now that the crit hit ratio formula changed in Gen 6 (a stage 2 crit-hit ratio is now 50% instead of 25%), it matches well with Scope Lens item along with crit-hit moves such as Cross Poison and Night Slash which it can learn. But the non-crit damage output is rather horrendous, so wearing a Scope Lens is out of the question. Even if Scope Lens is replaced with Life Orb or Choice Band, the 12.5% chance of crit is still too low so it's always better to do 100% constant damage with Poison Jab and Sucker Punch. 

It also got some new sweet move like Sticky Web, Rage Powder and Megahorn (especially Megahorn, thank you, Gamefreak). Lastly, being a Bug/Poison-type, it has some "decent" defensive physical resistance to Fighting, Fairy, Grass, Poison and Bug-types. But then again...

Weakness
Talonflame, the sole enemy of the spider so perhaps, in this case, you might need a Focus Sash to survive the heat or Brave Bird, but you won't want to lose that Life Orb power boost now do you? Probably best to sit Ariados out if that bird is around, or you can come up with a partner that can cover its weakness, preferably a Pokemon that can throw a rock at it.

Speaking of rock, it's also afraid of Rock-type moves that are seen around occasionally. Same goes to Psychic-types, It also definitely has a problem facing Steel-type too due to Bug resistance and Poison immunity, so with 4 common weaknesses, you're kinda forced to come up with at least 3 Pokemon to cover up the weakness, you don't need to worry about Psychic type that much because of Sucker Punch.

Moveset
The best part of Gen 6 is that Ariados has been blessed with a new egg move - the sweet and mighty Megahorn. This 120 base power Bug move combined with full Attack EV + Adamant nature can instantly super effectively OHKO many Psychic (like Cresselia), Dark and Grass-type Pokemon and nearly over killing others who are defensively neutral against it, and this is excluding the power boost from the Life Orb. The downside of having such power though, is that it has only 85% accuracy, X-Scissors is another alternative if Megahorn's accuracy is a turn off but it's not wise to give up such powerful move. 

Poison Jab can also OHKO many Fairy-type Pokemon, if not, then a 30% chance of poisoning is nice too. And as mentioned earlier, Sucker Punch is to counter Psychic-type Pokemon and to compensate for being slow, Shadow Sneak is good too but the power is too low.

As for the last move slot, if you don't feel like using Protect (why won't you?). There are other moves to consider, Hone Claws can be added so it can boost its Attack further and Megahorn's accuracy which is nice. It can learn Dig too to counter Fire and Rock-type Pokemon but it's not that reliable since smart trainers can just switch out to counter. 

Closing thoughts

Many trainers don't have any experience facing Ariados and they are sure to underestimate it, you can use this to your advantage in a Trick Room team. Under the right circumstances, your Ariados can be a surprise winner thanks to Megahorn, I imagined my opponent jaw-dropped after I OHKO his Cresselia with it, so that's really fun, and not forgetting 'Poison Jabbing' the Fairies with content. Just remember to be careful with it because it's not meant to come out all the time, especially when Talonflame is around.

So Ariados, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Umbreon Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

• Ability – Inner Focus
• Stats – HP (252), Special Defence/SpD (252), Defence (4)
• Nature – Sassy
• Item – Mental Herb
• Move set – Helping Hand, Foul Play (stab), Heal Bell/Taunt, Toxic

Umbreon in Trick Room? Nope, I'll be taking a break from Trick Room setting for awhile. So in this entry, I'll explain about how Umbreon can be used in Doubles format from my experience. Usually, Umbreon guides online are based on 1v1 because it's hard to use it in Doubles, and it is, because Doubles format is too fast for its cleric support role. But ah, there's a way.

Strength

Umbreon has one of the best defensive stats especially its SpD (130!), and even the Defence isn't that shy as well (110!). It's an amazing tank, so it's ideal to use it against many offensive-type Pokemon and you don't even need to invest in Attack because it has Foul Play and has a ton of support moves, more on that later.

It also has two useful abilities which are Inner Focus and Synchronize, personally, I personally recommend Inner Focus because as a supporter, it's essential not to get flinched especially when it's kinda slow. On the other hand, Synchronize is useful too, as it can simply “Synchronize” burn, poison and paralyzed status back to the enemy and heal itself with a Heal Bell (or a Lum Berry, if you like). However, the Gen 6 mechanic indirectly made the ability less awesome since Fire-types can’t be burn, Electric-types from being paralyzed, and same goes to Poison status to Poison-types. Oh, as a supporter a Mental Herb is important too.

Weakness

Back then, it only had to be worried of Fighting-type Pokemon in Battle Spot. But now that the game has Fairies running around, you're forced to add in another partner to cover up that weakness. Plus the occasional Bug-type weakness, having an Umbreon as a core in your Doubles team could easily require around 2-3 Pokemon to cover up its weakness. Shucks, choose wisely. 

Not only that, Taunt and Trick Pokemon users are an annoyance too especially the latter. Veterans will force you to waste a round to change your Umbreon with another teammate if you want to use another move, so keep an eye out as there are only a few who can learn that move, particularly Rotom-W. 

Moveset

Ah, I almost forgot. The only reason you should use Umbreon in Doubles is because of only one move - Helping Hand. Why Helping Hand? Well as I said earlier, Doubles is too fast for a slow cleric like Umbreon to execute the moves; besides, Helping Hand has a +5 priority to compensate for its slow Speed. Thus, the best type of partners to pair with Umbreon is an offensive Pokemon that knows a spread move (Earthquake, Heatwave, Blizzard, etc).

Foul Play is also commonly used, so sometimes it's good to provide some assistance instead of supporting all the time. A partner with Swagger move is quite ideal and this could prove annoying to the opponent who has a SpA-focus Pokemon. To add on to that, it's not wise to make Umbreon learn Payback or Assurance move; the Attack stat is too low to consider, even if you boost it with Curse, you're wasting too much time setting up. 

Heal Bell is another fantastic move to have as it cures everyone in the team from Burn, Sleep, Freeze, Poison and Paralyzed status, Taunt isn't so bad too so that depends on your preference.  

Speaking of curing your team, Snatch is a quite interesting move because it functions like a +4 priority Taunt (very useful since Umbreon is slow). The only problem, though, is you really need to be good in mind reading to predict what your opponent would do. Snatch will steal any status move (except Status moves, Taunt and Encore). For example, if the opponent uses Tailwind and you used Snatch in the same round; Tailwind will be stolen and Umbreon will cast Tailwind instead. It's too bad that it can't steal Status moves, Taunt and Encore, or else it would've been really beneficial.

Lastly, Toxic is another way of assisting your partner especially on other tanky Pokemon such as Suicune itself. Yawn is another good move to shut down threats in the next round, but this won’t stop them from waking up with Lum Berry and Safeguard. 

Closing thoughts

Using Umbreon in Doubles is not easy, if you really want it to be part of your Doubles team, you'll need a lot of trials and errors to get it right (especially if it's a core Pokemon). But once you get the correct ingredients, your team will actually be almost unbeatable taken if you take advantage of Helping Hand, and not many opponents have experience facing a mix Doubles team which will keep them on a wild guess.

So Umbreon, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Dragalge Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

• Ability – Adaptability
• Stats – HP (252), SpA (252), SpD (4)
• Nature – Modest/Quiet 
• Item – Life Orb
• Move set – Draco Meteor (stab), Sludge Bomb (stab), Hydro Pump/Thunderbolt, Protect

When Dragalge was discovered in XY, I knew it was another perfect candidate for Trick Room but it didn't have Adaptability ability yet. So I had to wait until ORAS came around and it finally got the hidden ability, verdict? It kicks so-much-ass. 

Strength

Adaptability, the ability to boost power STAB moves from the usual 1.5 to 2 which makes a LOT of difference. Combined with Life Orb, it would almost always OHKO a Pokemon that is neutral against Draco Meteor or Sludge Bomb. Adaptability + Life Orb combo is also guaranteed to OHKO a Sylveon (the highest SpD among all fairies) with Sludge Bomb, and that's a huge bonus given how annoying that fairy is. 

The first ever Dragon/Poison type is special too as it gets neutral damage from Fairies, not to forget its high SpD stat too that complements Fire, Water, Electric and Grass resistance even more, making it a tank favourite against SpA Pokemon. But then again...

Weakness

That also means it's weak to both Ground and Ice, which are everywhere in the metagame. Also, its Defence stat is just alright so physical attackers have a greater chance of taking it down. 

Dragalge users should also be wary of Psyshock users, as it focuses on Pokemon's Defence stat instead of SpD. 

Another major problem it has is facing a Steel-type Pokemon, Dragon-type moves won't do much, and Sludge Bomb won't have any effect. That's where you have to rely on your third move...

Move set

Fortunately, Dragalge can learn some decent third SpA moves from its move pool. It can learn Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt. I'd opt for either Hydro Pump or Thunderbolt for coverage and consistent power, not really a fan of Focus Blast because of that low accuracy. Well, depend what your team is lacking really.

You could consider Dragon Pulse if you want more consistency, but Draco Meteor is the way to go for good reasons. Sure, Draco Meteor will drop the SpA sharply but you'd most prolly OHKO that Pokemon 90% of the time anyway. Remember you have Adaptability + Life Orb combo, Draco Meteor still kinda hurt even after using it once. 

Another thing, Sludge Bomb is preferred over Sludge Wave because of the 30% chance of poisoning a Pokemon, Sludge Wave only has 10% chance and it won't OHKO Sylveon either.

Closing thoughts

(image credit to foxeaf)

Dragalge is an excellent wallbreaker and has been a staple in my Trick Room team ever since ORAS was released, if it wasn't for Adaptability, I'm not sure which Pokemon I can rely on for playing the anti-Sylveon role (yes, I really hate facing Sylveon, but like using it as well haha). 

There you have it, a terrifying S-Class Trick Room Pokemon. So Dragalge, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Maractus Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

• Ability – Storm Drain
• Stats – Special Attack/SpA (252), Attack (252), HP (4)
• Nature – Quiet 
• Item – Focus Sash
• Move set – Energy Ball (stab), Sucker Punch, Spiky Shield, Endeavor/Hyper Voice/Hidden Power Rock

"Wtf is a Maractus?" is what you were prolly thinking. This poor cuter Cacturne version is a forgotten Gen 5 Pokemon from Unova and has terrible stats except for its SpA, why in the world would anyone use this lousy Pokemon right? Well, I'll tell you.

Besides Gastrodon being the most well-known Storm Drain user, another contender is Cacturne’s cousin, Maractus. Maractus is quite similar to Cacturne as they both share the same pathetic HP/Defence/SpD/Speed stats, but they both also have similar high Attack and SpA. Cacturne is much more superior as a physical attacker, whereas Maractus is more suited to use SpA. The difference is that Maractus is pure a Grass and it also has Storm Drain.

Strength

Ah, Storm Drain. That's one ability that everyone love and hate. In my previous post, I talked about how important it is to have a Storm Drain user to protect Mega Camerupt, and this is the Pokemon that I've chosen. Since not many trainers are familiar with Maractus, it can pull off a surprise on Water users granting it a boost in SpA. One free SpA boost is really deadly, because it can OHKO many tanky Water-types easily after just one SpA boost with Energy Ball.

To add on to that, it's highly recommended your team should have Surf user to further feed Maractus more and more power. It's a favourite against Rainy and Sand teams.

Being a pure Grass also means it can ignore those annoying powder moves like Rage Powder and Sleep, so that's another bonus there. However...

Weakness

Being pure Grass also means it's weak to 5 types which are Fire, Bug, Flying, Ice, and Poison. Fire, Flying (types, like Talonflame and Charizard Y) and Ice moves are already running rampant in the current metagame, so better protect your Maractus well because it's super fragile. And it's forced to wear Focus Sash at all times. 

Another serious problem is that it lacks a good third attack move. So because of this, it also faces a lot of limitations on several Pokemon that is resistant against it. You could say that it's a very niche Pokemon designed to take on a few types of Pokemon like those from Rainy and Sand teams. Hence, another good reason why it's almost non-existant in the current metagame.

Moveset

The reason why I fully pump on SpA and Attack is so that it can make use of Energy Ball and Sucker Punch as a decent back up punch to compensate for being slow. As for the third move, ideally the best move is Hidden Power Rock because it counters Fire, Flying, Ice and Bug-types, with Storm Drain it can gain power boost so that solves the weak power damage. 

Hyper Voice is another move to consider too since it does spread damage, and once again, it needs to rely on Storm Drain to boost up the power. Uproar is great for shutting sleepers down, but it targets randomly and gets locked for 3 rounds unless if it misses on a Ghost or protect so...that's kinda risky. 

My favourite one is Endeavor move because it greatly benefits from Focus Sash and it can proceed to use Spiky Shield to actually kill off the opponent. For example, if it was facing a Talonflame; Maractus will 100% win because:

• Talonflame will either use Brave Bird or Flare Blitz
• Maractus survives with 1 HP thanks to Focus Sash, and uses Endeavor bringing Talonflame’s HP down to 1 as well
• Final move is Spiky Shield (thank God for this new Gen 6 move!!) which will hurt Talonflame resulting a win for the cactus. If it was facing a SpA user, it should use Sucker Punch over Spiky Shield

Pretty sweet, huh. 

Closing thoughts

(image credit to zerochan.net)

Under Trick Room and the right match up, Maractus is actually a really scary Pokemon to face especially when it's not usually seen in the metagame (keeps the opponent clueless). It has become my staple Grass-type Pokemon in my Trick Room in ORAS and it has destroyed many teams amazingly whenever I fed it too much water with Surf from my Clawitzer. So there you go, next time you see one in Trick Room, best not to underestimate it if you have some Water, Rock and Ground Pokemon.

So Maractus, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Mega Camerupt Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

• Ability – Sheer Force
• Stats – HP (252), Special Attack/SpA (252), Defence or Special Defence/SpD (4)
• Nature – Quiet/Modest
• Item – Cameruptite
• Moveset – Fire Blast/Heat Wave (stab), Earth Power (stab), Ancient Rock, Protect

Before Camerupt got a mega-evolution, no one would actually consider this camel because not only it's super slow, but the defences are quite terrible too, making it forced to wear Focus Sash at all times in Trick Room. Thanks to the mega-evolution, it suddenly became a Trick Room powerhouse sweeper overnight and a force to reckon with, even without Trick Room, it still has a good chance of taking the opponent down before it faints. 

Strength

One obvious upgrade is its Sheer Force ability, which increases any moves with secondary effects by 30%, but at the same time removing the effects which is fine because that's all it needs to do - OHKO'ing. 

Also, its mega-evolution increases all  Attack, SpA, Defence and SpD while sacrificing Speed stats granting better durability. While taking away Speed seems like a bad thing, in Trick Room however, it will prolly move first most of the time with Quiet nature and will obliterate opponents who uses Amoongus. 

Fire/Ground typing is unique too, providing resistance to Fire (duh), Steel, Bug, Fairy, Poison and an immunity to Electric, leaving only two weaknesses.That being said...

Weakness

The two weakness that it has - Water and Ground are two common types in the metagame. Putting it against Water-type is a BIG NO unless if you have a partner with Strom Drain ability, otherwise it'd be just a suicide mission. Then again, Storm Drain won't save the camel from Surf either. 

Mega Camerupt lacks a very solid third attacking move too, so just like Mega Ampharos, this Pokemon is pretty predictable and can be countered easily by bringing a Pokemon with Flash Fire ability, or Wide Guard move to block Heat Wave or Eruption. 

Move set

With Sheer Force at its disposal, STAB moves like Fire Blast or Heat Wave and Earth Power are automatically chosen for obvious reasons. It can literally OHKO most Pokemon in just one shot,  and those who are just neutral against it would likely lose their HP more than half most of the time. While Eruption alone can cause serious havoc leaving both opponents at half-life at least, the opponent can just counter it with a Flash Fire Pokemon & Wide Guard, so that’s why Fire Blast is preferred (unless if you hate shaky accuracy, then Flamethrower is not bad but loses that oomph power). 

As mentioned earlier, Mega Camerupt lacks a very solid third attacking move. Flash Cannon gets a very nice buff though, but that’s about it, and not really recommended since it’s only super effective against Ice, Rock (which Fire and Ground covers very well) and Fairy. So in the end, Ancient Rock is really your only option getting a nice power boost from Sheer Force, and useful against Flying Pokemon especially Talonflame and Mega Charizard Y/Z.

Closing thoughts

(image credit to Suikuzu)

Mega Camerupt is one of the best Pokemon to go for in a Trick Room team, there's no doubt about that. Best to have a Storm Drain partner to cover its 4x Water weakness too, because together it would be almost invincible. But if you opt for a regular Camerupt, it can be done too.  

A regular Camerupt build will have its Attack and SpA stat fully pumped, investing into other stats is utterly useless since they're so low already. Thus, this makes Solid Rock ability kinda useless (x4 weak to Water, remember?) and Magmar Armor is even worst. With such a low HP stat, most of the time it won't last after the second round so it might as well go down with a big bang Explosion. This goes very nicely with Focus Sash item and Anger Point ability with a chance of getting critical hit (which happens quite often in Battle Spot for some reason), and it really can take opponents by surprise with awesome Michael Bayhem explosion which he'd be proud of, trust me. 

So Mega Camerupt, I choose you! Glhf!