RU Teambuilding

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Oglemi

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Stone Edge >>> U-turn imo. It allows Archeops to hit Aerodactyl, Moltres, Sigilyph, and other Flying-types much harder than Acrobatics does, plus it's a nice coverage move. You'll rarely use it, but it's better than forcing Archeops out and risk taking SR damage again coming in. If you are sure you can keep SR off the field or you're using a VoltTurn team, then U-turn is fine, but it really doesn't do anything for it imo if you're using Archeops as a sweeper/wallbreaker.
 

alexwolf

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^Exactly what Oglemi said. U-turn is useless. You should almost never use Archeops early game, as he wants the Flying Gem to sweep late game. And without Acrobatics and LO, you are not threatening much even with 140 Atk.

Oh and i don't like Roost too, as Archeops rarely finds any time to use it. Heat Wave is better for the last slot, to ohko Escavalier and Ferroseed.
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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[SET]

Crawdaunt (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Crunch
Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner
What it does: SubDD Crawdaunt is getting more common these days, and for good reason! Crawdaunt is a very threatening sweeper capable of doing major damage to the opposing team if it can get in safely (hint: send it in vs slowking, bar toxic or twave Slowking cant do much damage to it). Crawdaunt is pretty good at forcing switches, and Substitute takes full advantage of this, giving Crawdaunt either a free turn to Dragon Dance, or seriously hurt their check to Crawdaunt with a powerful Adaptability boosted STAB attack. Dragon Dance is the crux of this set, boosting Crawdaunts already intimidating Attack stat to monsturous levels, while boosting its lackluster Speed stat to the point where it can outspeed a good amount of the unboosted metagame. Waterfall and Crunch are Crawdaunt's STAB attacks, and are only resisted by Poliwrath and Ferroseed in this tier. Superpower can also be used over Substitute with a Life Orb, but the utility of sub is much preferred.
Good Teammates: Crawdaunt may be powerful, but it needs a fair amount of support to work to its full potential. Crawdaunt greatly appreciates entry hazards on the field to help ease its sweep and weaken its counters, most of which are vulnerable to Stealth Rock and Spikes. Roselia is an excellent partner for hazard setting, being able to sponge electric, grass, fighting, and even some bug moves with the right EVs, while setting up spikes for crawdaunt to abuse, and as a bonus it also threatens the bulky grass-types that plauge Crawdaunt with sludge bomb, while taking out Poliwrath and Quagsire with Giga Drain. Even after a Dragon Dance, fast Pokemon such as sceptile, cincinno, and scarfers are still able to outspeed and KO it, therefore paralysis support is a great idea. Slowking is pretty good at spreading Thunder Wave around with its good bulk, and due to its similar typing it tends to lure in pokemon that threaten crawdaunt such as sceptile and lilligant. Lastly, Crawdaunt appreciates having teammates with U-turn and Volt Switch, as they can get crawdaunt in safely if the opponent decides to switch out.
What counters it: Bulky grass types, Poliwrath, Quagsire, and fast revenge killers all pose a problem to crawdaunt, completely walling it and striking back with STAB attacks to wear it down, Crawdaunt's physical bulk is acceptable, but its nothing amazing. Aside from those things, good luck lol
Any Additional Info: Get on Crawdaunt's level kids
 
U-turn isn't very useful on archeops seeing as it's pretty difficult to get him in safely and once you have, you want to do as much damage as possible with its good coverage. I don't think LO would be such a bad idea, though, as once your flight gem is gone, archeops really suffers from lack of a boosting item to nab its OHKOes which it really needs considering its frailty.

@molk, crawdaunt is very dangerous, but I wouldn't say it's a good cleaner, it's main flaw IMO is that it is still easy to out-speed even at +1 and that hampers it seeing how hard it can be to set up. Personally, I like lum berry>leftovers. You won't really be doing anything with crawdaunt's mediocre bulk anyway and lum is just really nice for being able to fearlessly switch in on things like slowking and dusknoir without fearing burns that will render crawdaunt useless. It's also very funny if you're fighting CP sigliyph and you set up a sub after curing the burn and watch them do nothing, even at +6, +6 :P
 
I always pair Archeops with a spinner and use it on heavy offense teams, so that's where U-turn comes in handy. It's able to switch out of one of its counters so something else can come in and hit hard. I never really see myself wanting Stone Edge because Archeops beats Moltres anyways. Maybe I just like VoltTurn teams lol.
 
U-turn isn't very useful on archeops seeing as it's pretty difficult to get him in safely and once you have, you want to do as much damage as possible with its good coverage. I don't think LO would be such a bad idea, though, as once your flight gem is gone, archeops really suffers from lack of a boosting item to nab its OHKOes which it really needs considering its frailty.

@molk, crawdaunt is very dangerous, but I wouldn't say it's a good cleaner, it's main flaw IMO is that it is still easy to out-speed even at +1 and that hampers it seeing how hard it can be to set up. Personally, I like lum berry>leftovers. You won't really be doing anything with crawdaunt's mediocre bulk anyway and lum is just really nice for being able to fearlessly switch in on things like slowking and dusknoir without fearing burns that will render crawdaunt useless. It's also very funny if you're fighting CP sigliyph and you set up a sub after curing the burn and watch them do nothing, even at +6, +6 :P
Crawdaunt isn't as hard to set up as you think. For example, it uses Ferroseed as setup bait, as Gyro Ball fails to break the subs. Ferroseed only wins if it has Seed Bomb, which almost no one uses. In addition, it doesn't necessarily need to setup in order to punch large holes in the opponent's team. Even unboosted, STAB Waterfall and Crunch backed by Adaptability hits extremely hard, with the exception of the few targets mentioned above. Crawdaunt is a really underrated threat - it can come in on Slowking and set up to its heart's content. In addition, with Jolly and +1, Crawdaunt hits 343 Speed, which is actually pretty fast in the RU metagame. Very few Pokemon have a base Speed of over 105, and Crawdaunt can outspeed unboosted 105s with a Jolly nature. Also, anything faster than Crawdaunt at +1 is absolutely smashed by either Waterfall or Crunch. Archeops, Scolipede, Accelgor, Sceptile, and Aerodactyl immediately come to mind. They cannot switch in at all, and if Crawdaunt uses Substitute on the switch (which is what will most likely happen), they're screwed lol.
 

august

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[SET]

Braviary (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Return
- Superpower
- Brave Bird
Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner, Revenge Killer
What it does: Braviary is perhaps one of the best Choice Scarf pokemon in RU. U-turn in conjunction with 123 Base Attack allow you to do a fair amount of damage while still scouting switch ins. With 2 100+ bp STAB attacks, Braviary is also an incredible late game cleaner, 2HKOing the omnipresent Tangrowth / Slowking core with Brave Bird, or playing it safe against offensive teams with a non recoil Return. Superpower, although situational, gives Braviary flawless coverage and allows it to hit Steel-type switch ins like Aggron or Steelix.
Good Teammates: Braviary faces violent opposition from a good deal of Rock and Steel-type pokemon, like Steelix and Rhydon. The beautiful thing about all of Braviary's counters, though, is that they are grounded. Spikes Roselia can set up hazards to wear down Steelix and Rhydon, as well as scaring Rhydon out with the threat of Giga Drain. Braviary should be used in conjunction with a powerful set up sweeper capable of taking out bulky Rock and Steel-types, like Crawdaunt or potentially Feraligatr. While not completely necessary, a Rapid Spinner will alleviate Braviary's Stealth Rock weakness.
What counters it: As mentioned previously: Rhydon, Steelix, Omastar, bulky Rock/Steel-types, etc.
Any Additional Info: When in doubt, U-turn out~
 
What not to use:



Hitmonchan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Foresight / Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch

Role: Rapid Spinner
Why it's bad: Hitmonchan cannot beat Ghost-types, it's as simple as that. Not only are Ghost-types immune to Rapid Spin, but also to Hitmonchan's STAB Fighting-type moves, so Hitmonchan becomes useless. It's also surprisingly frail, and Drain Punch is a horrible recovery move, if you can even call it that. Sacrificing a move for Foresight is extremely unappealing, and Hitmonchan is usually useless outside of using Foresight + Rapid Spin.
What counters it: GHOST-TYPES and Psychic-types such as Slowking and Sigilyph.
Any Additional Info: Hitmonchan's brother, Hitmonlee, is also horrible at spinning.

-



Steelix (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Roar

Role: Physical Wall
What it does: Steelix is one of the best physical walls in RU due to its massive base 200 Defense and great support options. It is one of the most reliable users of Stealth Rock in the tier, and nothing can OHKO it unless it already has damage on it, due to Sturdy (it's not like Steelix is going to be easily OHKOed anyways). Steelix walls so many physical attackers in the tier, including Aggron, Aerodactyl, Archeops, Bouffalant, Crustle, Drapion, Druddigon, Escavalier, Klinklang, Scolipede, Scyther, and more. Gyro Ball and Earthquake are STAB moves, and hit the aforementioned Pokemon hard with Steelix's usable base 85 Attack. Finally, Steelix has access to Roar, so it can phaze out any threat such as SubCM Uxie or rack up entry hazard damage on the opponent.
Good Teammates: Good teammates for Steelix include those that can take on its weaknesses to Fire-, Fighting-, Ground-, and Water-type moves. Slowking is one of the best partners, as it resists three of these types and can take the special attacks aimed at Steelix. Poliwrath is another good partner, as the duo walls almost every physical attack in RU. Since Steelix lacks reliable recovery, it really appreciates Wish support so it can continue to wall the opponent. Basically, bulky Water-types and Wish supporters are great partners for Steelix.
What counters it: Special Attackers such as Moltres, Slowking, and Tangrowth manhandle Steelix. They also take little from Steelix's STAB moves. Additionally, because Steelix lacks reliable recovery, many strong physical attacks such as Choice Band Druddigon's Superpower will weaken Steelix. Some checks include Sceptile, Magmortar, Entei, Gallade, and Feraligatr.

-

I added EonX-'s Archeops, Molk's Crawdaunt, Endorphin's Feraligatr, and august's Braviary and added a revenge killer section. I will add an "Other" section for spinblockers etc. if people post them. You can also post sets not to use, like I did above. Also please try to post in categories lacking Pokemon so we get a good list going. Great job so far guys!!
 

Molk

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this is almost required

THIS SUCKS @ Eviolite
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion
Role: Death Fodder, Hazard Setter
Why it's bad: Metang is absolutely terrible, and is the worst steel type in the game that people actually use, it has literally nothing over escavalier, steelix, or klinklang. As i always say: Metang does nothing, it sets up Stealth Rock and does nothing else. If you seriously want to use this shit, you need to go to B101 for a LONG time.
Any Additional Info: Metang loses to everything, INCLUDING ITSELF. Metang losing to magikarp: http://pokemon.aesoft.org/replay-MrTrousers-2-gud-vs-Metang-is-bad--2012-05-03 Bp team but still lol
 
Walrein @ leftovers
trait: Ice body
Evs: 232 HP / 252 Def / 24 SpDef
Bold nature (- atk, + def)
Protect
Substitute
Surf / Blizzard
Toxic / Super Fang

Role: Staller

What it does: Exactly what it looks like. Stalls teams in hail. Your primary objective is to first set up a substitute, which, with the given EVs, cannot be broken by seismic toss and night shade. Next use either toxic or super fang (toxic is the better stalling move, so I would highly suggest toxic) to wear the opponent down, using protect to piss off SubPunchers and, well, stall toxic and hail damage. Finally, finish the enemy off with blizzard or surf. Blizzard is more powerful and has perfect acc. under hail, but has low pp, so surf is more, ah, durable. Now, of course you need hail support, as this set can only function under hail (snover is really your only option, but it's really not so much dead weight as you would think). I should mention that in two turns, recovery from both ice body and leftovers allows full recovery from substitute damage.

Good teammates: Walrein requires defensive synergy such as roselia, which can switch into Super effective fighting- and electric- attacks that would just make Walrein look like a child's toy. Roselia can also absorb those toxic spikes, which would otherwise poison Walrein, greatly hindering it's durability. As I mentioned before, you need hail support for the aforementioned reasons. Seriously, don't even think about using this without hail.

What counters it: As also mentioned previously, fast, powerful fighting and electric types, including electivire, galvantula, all forms of rotom (those that are present in RU), Medicham, HOLY SHIT POLIWRATH, and even grass types such as Sceptile will quickly drain Walrein's HP with their supereffective STAB. Status also ruins Walrein, specifically burn and poison, as they induce residual damage.

Additional Info: HOLY SHIT POLIWRATH
 
Walrein @ leftovers
trait: Ice body
Evs: 232 HP / 252 Def / 24 SpDef
Bold nature (- atk, + def)
Protect
Substitute
Surf / Blizzard
Toxic / Super Fang
This set was decent in Round 3 and before, but it sucks completely right now due to one simple reason: No permanent hail in RU :) Sorry, but this should go under 'What Not To Use'
 
This set was decent in Round 3 and before, but it sucks completely right now due to one simple reason: No permanent hail in RU :) Sorry, but this should go under 'What Not To Use'
Actually, if I had room in my RU team for Walrein, I'd try the set out to see if it was any good.

That said, it's a bit difficult to fit Walrein into a team. Water/Ice isn't that terrific defensively, and permanent hail means Walrein's gotta set it up himself. If you were to maybe use Hail over Protect you could get Double Leftovers for a few turns, while opponents take residual damage?

That, and Protect's not that terrific a move. Makes ya set-up bait to anybody predicting a Protect. I've seen a couple Bouffalant sets that've used Protect that easily just become "Oh, terrific! I get a free <insert set-up move here> boost".
 

TROP

BAN DRUDDIGON. FIREWALL DRAGON DID NOTHING WRONG
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Time for something that should not be used:

Golurk @ Choice Band
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- DynamicPunch
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Punch

Role: Wallbreaker

Why it's bad: With the introduction of the tutors in BW2 any use No Guard Gourk would have is simply gone. First with access to the new punching moves, it gets some kind of recovery with Drain Punch that gets a decent boost to 90 bp that in the long run is not really far from what Dynamic Punch would do
Drain Punch: 96-114 (23.76 - 28.21%) -- possible 4HKO after Stealth Rock.This is CB Iron Fist Drain Punch vs Physically Defensive Tangrowth.
DynamicPunch: 107-127 (26.48 - 31.43%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Stealth Rock.This is the same target but with CB No Guard Dynamic Punch.
. Ice Punch while it might never happen in a battle, has the potential to 2HKO Tangrowth ,though it is small chance, but still possible. Iron Fist also turns Shadow Punch from pathetic STAB move to a simply below average STAB move. Stone Edge could be argued here for a No Guard use here, but Golurk already gets all the kills on Stone Edge Targets if it picks any punching move that is not Drain Punch while they try to come in an Earthquake that they are inmune to, the only real benefit over Ice Punch is having a guaranteed OHKO on Mandibuzz after Stealth Rock Damage.

Any Additional Info:Out of "lol su randum confusion hax XD", this set does nothing than an Iron Fist Golurk wouldn't do better.
 
right, I'll have another crack at this:


Medicham @Life Orb
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 252 atk/ 4 def/ 252 spe
Adamant
-Drain Punch/Hi jump kick
-Psycho Cut
-Bullet Punch
-Fake Out/Thunder punch

Role: Physical Sweeper/Revenge Killer

What it does: Medicham is the epitome of power in RU, boasting the most powerful move in RU (tied with archeops' headsmash) as well as a decent but precise movepool, medicham is a terror to behold. Basically, this guy's job is to pick off weaker offensive pokemon with its priority moves or smash through anything it can outspeed and isn't a ghost/psychic. While this set isn't as difficult to switch into as choice band or as generally reliable for revenge-killing as choice scarf, it compensates that with being much more flexible and less exploitable than both of them and hits a nice compromise between the two. Medicham has enough power to seriously threaten offensive teams and enough speed to be a tricky customer for stall. Firstly, you need to select your STAB move. Personally, I prefer drain punch as it is a safer option than hi jump kick and greatly helps medicham's suvivability while still packing enough power to smash most things on an offensive team anyway, but hi jump kick is also a dangerous option that makes medicham quite a lot more threatening to stall (which is why it's listed second seeing as stall is generally less popular than offense). Psycho cut is a good choice for a secondary STAB, punishing any ghost not called spiritomb expecting a HJK. It's prefered over zen headbutt as it doesn't make contact, meaning you can preserve your ability when taking on cofagrigus. Bullet punch is an important move as it does quite a lot, even without STAB, to many offensive threats and is useful for picking off faster pokemon who tend to be rather frail. Fake out is an under-rated move for medicham and can make life very difficult for the opponent if used as a lead and will take a huge toll on a lot of offensive threats when used in combination with bullet punch. Thunderpunch is also an option if you don't like being walled by slowking and does a little more to uxie and spiritomb, but you miss out on a good anti-lead.

Good Partners: In a word, dark types. Not only do they have naturally good synergy with medicham, they are able to take down/set up on medicham's most common switch-ins. Drapion/spiritomb makes an excellent counter to cofagrigus, one of medicham's best checks, while crawdaunt can set up on things like uxie and slowking. It can actually work making a fighting/ghost/dark core if you use spiritomb, then you get a lot of back-up for medicham as well as generally decent core too.

Counters: In a word, ghost types. Almost every ghost in RU has a potent weapon against medicham, rotom has good speed, spiritomb resists both STABs and can pursuit, and cofagrigus is just immensly bulky with mummy being the icing on top. Just be careful as a good medicham player will have a prepared response for these threats. Psychic types also work nicely as they naturally resist both his STABs, but they will have to be exceptionally bulky if they want to be able to switch into medicham's HJKs consistently.

Any Additional Info: His hat is cool.
 
(please don't hate, I've used this before and it is pretty good. )
Wartortle @ Eviolite
Trait: torrent
EVs- 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 SpDef
Bold nature (-atk, + def) OR calm nature (-atk, +SpDef)
Rapid Spin
Foresight / Haze
Scald
Toxic
Role: Freaking rapid spinner

What it does: Wartortle is greatly overlooked and underestimated by many battlers searching for a spinner. The blue tortoise is certainly capable of removing entry hazards, and while this set is wartortle's only option, it is nonetheless a good option. Eviolite gives wartortle excellent bulk, while maximum HP investment remedies wartortle's rather lackluster bulk. Wartortle can remove hazards, then proceed to inflict enemies with poison, severely crippling other defensive Pokemon (including a certain very large tongue which shall go unnamed), and use scald for continuos damage. Against physically offensive threats, scald has a nice burn chance, which helps wartortle tank physical attacks. Foresight allows wartortle to spin against ghost types such as Cofagrigus, who would otherwise severely cripple wartortle. Haze, however, can stop boosters, but doesn't provide the safety net that foresight does. The EV spread capitalizes wartortle's resistance to predominantly special types such as water, fire, and ice, while maximizing HP and providing a little physical bulk. The decision of which nature to use simply depends on whether you would prefer better Def. or SpDef.

Good Teammates: Tangrowth is an absolutely fantastic teammate, as it can tank wartortle's grass and electric weaknesses, while wartortle can take fire and ice attacks for tangrowth.

Counters: Tangrowth can be a foe as well as an ally, shrugging off it's scalds and hitting back with power whip. Cofagrigus stops wartortle form spinning before using foresight first, and can then inflict it with a burn. Also watch out for Ferroseed, which has the same effect as tangrowth, and sceptile, which just destroys wartortle with super effective and powerful STAB attacks.

Additional shit: Wartortle is truly underestimated. It works, and it does it's job effectively. Please give it a try, and you'll see.
 
(please don't hate, I've used this before and it is pretty good. )
Wartortle @ Eviolite
Trait: torrent
EVs- 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 SpDef
Bold nature (-atk, + def) OR calm nature (-atk, +SpDef)
Rapid Spin
Foresight / Haze
Scald
Toxic
Wartortle is just awful. This thing cannot spin vs. any Ghost-type in the tier since it has no form of recovery. Spiritomb beats it 1 on 1, as does Cofagrigus, Rotom, and Dusknoir even. The only way to reliably get a spin off is to run Foresight, and if you run that, you have to forgo Haze, which means that every Pokemon with Substitute / Steel- or Poison-Type will use you as set-up fodder as you attempt to Rapid Spin. Even with Foresight, Rotom outpeeds and slaughters Wartortle. Also, since this thing has no form of recovery, it can get weakened easily, especially since it doesn't even have Leftovers. Cryogonal is a much, much better choice due to recovery, the ability to not be set-up fodder since it actually has room to run Haze, good Special Attack, and the ability do major damage to the Ghost-types in the tier. Even Sandslash is a better option since it can at least dent Rotom with Stone Edge, and set up an SD on Spiritomb and Cofagrigus and kill them. Sorry, but once again, this should go under 'What Not To Use'.
 

ebeast

she's probably sexting nprtprt
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[SET]

Hitmonchan (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- ThunderPunch

Role: Physical Sweeper

What it does: Unlike the Rapid Spin set this one can actually do something thanks to it's great coverage and Iron Fist ability that gives all of Hitmonchan's moves in this set a nice 20% boost in power. Drain Punch hits very hard with Iron Fist and Life Orb while providing recovery to make up for Life Orb recoil, which in turns allows Hitmonchan to last longer than other Life Orb attackers. Ice Punch and Thunder Punch provide great coverage and allows to hit otherwise safe switch ins to Hitmonchan such as Slowking and Tangrowth super effectively, easily 2HKOing the common Offensive Tangrowth and any variations of Slowking. Mach Punch provides a powerful priority move that allows Hitmonchan to revenge kill dangerous Pokemon such as Crawdaunt and Absol without fear. Max Speed is used to allow Hitmonchan to allows outspeeds Adamant Absol and hit it with a Mach Punch before Absol can even attempt a Sucker Punch. Sadly Hitmonchan doesn't have the greatest time against the ever so common OTR Cofagrigus with Hitmonchan's Elemental Punches does measly damage.

Good Teammates: Since Hitmonchan has trouble with Cofagrigus, a great partner that also keep the offensive momentum going is Drapion. Drapion not only takes Psychic-type attacks aimed at Hitmonchan, but can easily beat Cofagrigus with its Swords Dance + Taunt set allowing it to use Hitmonchan's ability to lure Cofagrigus as an opportunity to set up.

What counters it: Ghost-type Pokemon such as Cofagrigus and Spiritomb give Hitmonchan a very hard time as they are immune to Hitmonchan's STAB and can take his coverage moves without a problem. Psychic-type Pokemon who aren't hit super effectively by Hitmonchan Elemental Punches such as Mesprit, Uxie, and Gallade make great switch ins as they can easily take a Drain Punch and retaliate back with their Psychic-type STAB or set up on Hitmonchan's face.

Any Additional Info: Better than the Rapid Spin set (aka Shitmonchan)
 
Wartortle is just awful. This thing cannot spin vs. any Ghost-type in the tier since it has no form of recovery. Spiritomb beats it 1 on 1, as does Cofagrigus, Rotom, and Dusknoir even. The only way to reliably get a spin off is to run Foresight, and if you run that, you have to forgo Haze, which means that every Pokemon with Substitute / Steel- or Poison-Type will use you as set-up fodder as you attempt to Rapid Spin. Even with Foresight, Rotom outpeeds and slaughters Wartortle. Also, since this thing has no form of recovery, it can get weakened easily, especially since it doesn't even have Leftovers. Cryogonal is a much, much better choice due to recovery, the ability to not be set-up fodder since it actually has room to run Haze, good Special Attack, and the ability do major damage to the Ghost-types in the tier. Even Sandslash is a better option since it can at least dent Rotom with Stone Edge, and set up an SD on Spiritomb and Cofagrigus and kill them. Sorry, but once again, this should go under 'What Not To Use'.
I agree with this sentiment above. Wartortle is hardly usable even in NU, where there are just as many things that counter it in that tier as there are things that counter Wartortle in RU. Against a few teams, Foresight becomes a waste of a moveslot. Furthermore, if you need a Bulky Water in either NU or RU there are many fully-evolved Pokes screaming for attention in each respective tier, and you can choose a different and inherently better Rapid Spinner after replacing it wholesale (even Hitmonchan is a better Rapid Spinner, and it has better things to do thanks to Iron Fist).
 

jake

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No idea how this hasn't been brought up yet...

[set]


Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Air Slash
- Roost / Hidden Power [Ground]

Role: Wallbreaker / Special Sweeper, depending on the team you're playing against and your fourth move
What it does: Demolishes the bulky cores you know and love. Slowking / Tangrowth? Sets up on both and proceeds to dominate the other team. Roselia? It can't even touch you. You think you can Whirlwind it away with Munchlax? Think again, +1 Psyshock does like 63%. This thing cleanly 6-0's nearly every stall team lacking something like Pursuit Escavalier (which can be eliminated with proper teambuilding, too). Teams like SV and DC's Reflections have no hope to stop this monster. It's definitely not useless against offensive teams, either; it outruns stuff like Drapion and Moltres and OHKOes with the appropriate move. Its main role depends on whether you're using Roost or HP Ground; HP Ground eliminates the need for team support, KOing some troubling stuff like bulky Rock-types, Steelix, and Aggron (as well as doing quite a bit more to SpD Drapion), but Roost allows it to not worry so much about switching into Pokemon like Slowking and can really be important for a late-game sweep.
Good Teammates: Sigilyph cannot get through Escavalier (or other Steel-types, if you're not running HP Ground) very easily even with a couple of boosts under its belt, so pairing it with Magneton may be a good idea. Other Pursuit users like Spiritomb can be very obnoxious to handle, so it's important to get them out of the way before trying to send in Sigilyph so that you can avoid unnecessary mindgames with Pursuit / Sucker Punch. Sceptile can be used in conjunction with Sigilyph; while it does share a counter in Escavalier with Sigilyph, it can severely damage most Pursuit users and other Steel-types with its incredibly strong Leaf Storm (remember, it does upwards of 60% on offensive Drapion) and greatly appreciates Sigilyph's ability to switch freely into Roselia and Munchlax (although Body Slam paralysis is rather annoying). Other Pokemon who have trouble with prominent defensive cores like Entei, Klinklang, and Hitmonlee will definitely appreciate Sigilyph's ability to shake things up.
What counters it: SpD Escavalier is a solid option, CB works just as well. Pursuit/Sucker Punch users: Spiritomb, Absol. Steel-types are very frustrating if Sigilyph doesn't carry HP Ground; Aggron takes like 25% from +2 Air Slash and dominates it with Head Smash. Faster Pokemon can prove difficult to handle before it gets some boosts, thanks to its mediocre defenses. Tricking it a Choice item will make life difficult for Sigilyph, as it's unable to boost and loses to power from LO. Bulky Rock-types like Regirock can be a pain, although they're rare.
Any additional info: it's a fucking boss and several people can attest to it cleanly sweeping them
 
CM sigilyph is an absolute monster I can say from plenty of experience using it. I think psyshock's most important trait is to beat easily smash haze cryogonal who would otherwise completely wall you, munchlax isn't that much of a deal, sitting only at #43 in the June usage stats. I think roost is pretty necessary, though. Maybe slash HP ground with psyshock, it seems to make a bit more sense as then you can just choose what you're walled by, steelix or cryo.

Hitmonchan looks fine (actually, it's pretty similar to medicham).
 
I agree with spuds4ever about HP ground slashed with psyshock, although I'd put HP ground first. Munchlax should be on what not to used anyway, roost is pretty necessary, so the only things you're missing out on are Haze Cryogonal and Rotom, who's slower and doesn't take Air Slashes well anyway. HP Ground will wreck steels like Aggron and Steelix that will switch in out of desperation when they see this motherucker.
 

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I've used both variants, and I can't actually say that Roost necessitates an entire slash all to itself. Psyshock is useful as a reliable STAB (yeah you can't even trust that 95 acc... ask Hugendugen!!). Psyshock also carries it through stuff like Clefable/Lickilicky/Miltank. But yeah, if you run all three moves you don't even need to stack boosts to run through teams. Just like CM once on a Slowking and then proceed to 6-0.

I also forgot to mention Mandibuzz as a hard counter;; aside from it and some SpD Psychic-types / Quagsire, nothing can outright wall LO Sigilyph.
 
FlinchHax from Air Slash can break through Mandibuzz, as Avira has had the pleasure of suffering to that courtesy of me in the past ;)

Heat Wave is definitely an option over Air Slash / Hidden Power Ground, as it destroys Steel-types and Escavalier, which outright walls Sigilyph lacking the move. I've found LO + 3 attacks to be much more useful than Roost tbh, I just never found the time to actually need Roost. Sigilyph is already powerful enough after one or two boosts to 2HKO or OHKO most of the metagame, and having 3 coverage moves instead of two is a definite plus.
 
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