Yanmega - yay or nay?

[Megaa]

I'm using Yanmega as a Special Sweeper on my team, what do you guys think about him? With Speed Boost, he gets faster than most things after one turn. Currently I use:

Modest Nature
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP (Though perhaps speed should be dumped for Def EVs?)

Bug Buzz
Aerial Slash
Shadow Ball/Psychic
Giga Drain/Ancient Power

Stone Plate + Ancient Power is pretty formidable, and the stat boost is always great. I thought about adding Substitute to him so he could successfully Speed Boost. I could also slap a Petaya Berry on him, so after 3 Subs he becomes a monster.

What do you guys think?

 

[Nightofshadow]

imo giga drain is a really solid choice... I would go with that

 

[Samson]

you don't need shadow ball/psychic when you already have a STAB Air Slash and a rock/ground-killing Giga Drain, so i suggest you give it detect for speed boost. its speed is not as high as we had only hoped, so if you're up against something that's faster than you (like other sweepers), you use detect for speed boost, and then fire away if you think it can take them. its max speed at Modest nature is 289, which for a sweeper in the 4th gen, is quite low, so you can understand why Detect is important.

 

[Megaa]

Hrm, that's some pretty good advice, I like it.

But, if I don't use Sub to activate a Berry, what item is recommended?

 

[Samson]

if it had all special attacks, Choice Specs would be ideal, but when running Detect, you may want to try Life Orb.

 

[Megaa]

Interesting, good ideas.

Quick question sort of related, exactly how much does Life Orb boost the power of moves?

 

[Samson]

it boosts the base power of all moves by 30%, but decreases your HP by 1/8th with every damaging move you use.