Ask a Simple Question Get a Simple Answer - RU Edition

alexwolf

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alexwolf, druddigon is a pokemon that works well under both tr and tailwind. It's also very bulky for an offensive mon and its choice banded outrage is really powerful
Druddigon is nice and all but i have 2 problems with him. First and most important, he requires good prediction and if you use outrage while a Steel or something that you can't 2hko then you are screwed since you won't have many more chances to setup TR. Zweilous can straight up 2hko the entire meta except Steelix which is very nice and requires much less prediciton. Of 'course the accuracy issue can be annoying sometimes but it is something i have to deal with.
The second problem is that Druddigon cannot be succesful under both Tailwind and TR. I must make him slow in order for him to work in TR, and if i do that then it won't be outspeeding anything.

I hate Druddigon, seriously don't implement that change, it's one of the most annoying things for my team to face. loljk, Druddigon is much better than Zweilous, because it cant be easily revenged with Mach Punch. Also, it doesn't have accuracy issues. And yeah, Medicham isnt that great as a finisher, maybe you could try Galvantula? Just an idea.
Unfortunately Galvantula is SR weak, which i can't prevent from being on the field, and at 75% dies easily from Krow and Entei.

Anything else?
 
I could be wrong, but I think zdrup meant that Druddigon can work under both TR and tailwind, but I don't think he was implying that there was an EV spread that allows it to work under TR and then Tailwind consecutively on the same team.

Off the top of my head Sub Shift Gear klinklank or SubBU Gallade might fit your needs as a "cleaner" after a couple BUs Gallade doesn't fear those priority moves (BB still leaves quite a dent, but you have a Sub for a reason) Gallade even keeps with the same typing of Medicham if you were interested in keeping your current type synergy the same...

if you are looking for 'mons with at least some immediate cleaning power, not weak to SR, and can take a hit, the best I can offer is Drapion and Durant.
 

Cooky

Banned deucer.
whats the learning curve like / how long does it take on average to find matches on the smogon server / is it a fun balanced metagame

for context, i dont have all that much free time, read:any, but I hear good things about RU and BW OU sucks balls. Used to play DPP UU the whole time and that was amazing fun, my one of 2 only ladder peaks, so im hoping its as balanced (fuck hera/pz/cress)
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
there is no better tier than BW RU. Matches take between a few seconds and a few minutes to come by, depending on time of day, but it's not LC's half hour wait. The learning curve is pretty difficult but if you get used to this tier it's thebest
 
Yes RU is a very balanced tier and the ladder is usually pretty active at certain times. Joining #rarelyused on IRC (http://www.smogon.com/irc/) is a good way to get involved with the tier. Joining challenges, teambats, etc and reading the posts in the np thread will help you get more comfortable with the tier :)
 

Oglemi

Borf
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There really isn't any learning curve if you're experienced in DPP UU, RU is basically a shoot-off of that, only with using mons that were under the top 15 (ie. there's no missy/venu/perior/nine/registeel), but there are a lot of other familiar mons (moltres/krow/aggron/gatr/scyther/tangrowth/steelix/clefable/rotom/uxie). There's also a large balance of playstyles like in DPP UU; stall/balanced/offense are all present.

The only thing that is hard to get used to is the sheer amount of threats, both defensive and offensive; there's just a lot to keep track of. I think that's the hardest part about getting into RU tbh. But really, you can throw together a team of 6 random RU mons and still do decent, as long as you carry priority and at least one strong defensive pivot. Also, weather is pretty rare like in DPP UU, there isn't even any hail. Though, you may still run into the occasional rain or sun team, beware of Sharpedo and Lilligant in particular!
 

Double01

Hate it or love it the under dog's on top
I've said this before you don't NEED either a defensive pivot nor a priority user you just need to have a away to deal with all te set up speed mobs in the tier (sharpedo, lilligant, omastar, etc.) This of course accomplished easier with priority.

About having a defensive pivot, most teams will have one even if they did not intend to have one. Usually if you don't have a defensive pivot you are probably being a HO team. The key to regaining momentum without a defensive pivot is saccing mons. Which can be difficult if you can't decide which poke is the least important if you are inexpierenced in the tier.
The only reason I object to oglemi's comment about having priority and defensive pivot is because my team has neither and has been used to great success.

Now about the metagame. I believe that it is possibly one of the most balanced tiers currently. As you can run so many different styles of play and be succesful. It's more of a relaxig tier also giving you the freedom to try new and creative sets without getting dominated by one single style of play.
 

Cooky

Banned deucer.
thanks guys, ill be giving it a shot at some point then. love oglemis point about the similarities thats a nice kicker

annihilating my workload atm so probs be on quite soon
 
In the VGC rules thingy, what are they talking about with the player ID thing. whats it all about, can't you just go and play?
 
It doesn't, that's just what would happen if last month's stats are used for tier changes. Tier changes happen at the end of this month I think so it will be this month's stats that will have the most bearing.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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what is a good entei counter?
Qwilfish is your best bet for hard countering Entei; Intimidate lowers his attack, weakening Flare Blitz, ExtremeSpeed, and Stone Edge, and it's immune to Toxic and doesn't mind Hidden Power Grass.

Otherwise most physically defensive Pokemon do well versus Entei: Rhydon does if you avoid Toxic and HP Grass; Regirock, Lanturn, and Slowking all do as well, just beware of Toxic if you don't have Heal Bell on your team. Defensive Aggron does fine too, as does Gligar, defensive Omastar (really watch out for HP Grass here), and physically defensive Thick Fat Hariyama.

CB Entei is also pretty easy to play around and revenge kill with Choice Scarf users or Ghost-types (if he's locked into ExtremeSpeed or HP Grass with the latter).
 
Qwilfish is your best bet for hard countering Entei; Intimidate lowers his attack, weakening Flare Blitz, ExtremeSpeed, and Stone Edge, and it's immune to Toxic and doesn't mind Hidden Power Grass.

Otherwise most physically defensive Pokemon do well versus Entei: Rhydon does if you avoid Toxic and HP Grass; Regirock, Lanturn, and Slowking all do as well, just beware of Toxic if you don't have Heal Bell on your team. Defensive Aggron does fine too, as does Gligar, defensive Omastar (really watch out for HP Grass here), and physically defensive Thick Fat Hariyama.

CB Entei is also pretty easy to play around and revenge kill with Choice Scarf users or Ghost-types (if he's locked into ExtremeSpeed or HP Grass with the latter).
thank you!
For Lanturn?
 
Oglemi's list is very comprehensive, but just want to add Kabutops with aqua jet. It can beat out hp grass and can do a decent amount of damage (probably at least 30%) depending on attack investment.

Lanturn is a bit harder to say for sure. It can do a few different things.
Powerful grass and ground moves work in general. Tricking a choice item neuters defensive and support variations.

However, offensive sets are common too (specs and scarf) in this case, prediction is usually the best bet because most choice sets will have volt turn to scout. Obviously ground types and electric absorbing Pokemon do best to stop this, but none of these want to take STAB surfs to the face. In general, resttalk munchlax does ok. Slowking can come in on choice locked ice/water. Somewhat ironically, the best widely accepted lanturn counter is... lanturn.

I can try to add abit more later
 
To add on to what lars said both Water Absorb Quagsire and Ferroseed come to mind for being unaffected/resisting both of Lanturn's STABs and not taking too much from Ice beam. Quagsire has the added bonus of being able to threaten back immediately with Earthquake.

Thanks for pointing out my mistake, I did mean Ferroseed (derp)
 
Yes Water Absorb Quagsire is also excellent, however this is the RU tier, so not Ferrothorn, (I think you meant Ferroseed anyway) but Ferroseed works and can use Leech seed (which will leech quite a bit due to Lanturn's high HP stat) and set up hazards.

Finally, my last suggestion is Ludicolo as it is not weak to any of those moves and 4x resists water and can instantly threaten with Giga Drain and replenish its health with Leech seed and Giga Drain.
 
You are correct, Flash abusers aren't seen. It's only sort of common on Ninjask which is not seen much. It isn't worth it to waste a moveslot on Sceptile. If you want a good Flying type move on Sceptile, it's better to run Acrobatics with a Flying Gem to raise the power of Acrobatics and get an Unburden boost.
 

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