XY RU XY RU- Everybody do the John Wall (Peaked at #162 on RU Ladder)

[VI Minutes]

Everybody Do The John Wall- Team at a Glance

Hey guys! I'm back with my 2nd RMT, this time in RU. I've always found RU to be a sort of awkward tier, because it isnt the best of the best (OU) or the best of the worst (NU), it's just somewhere in the middle. (I say best of the worst with the highest respect, as NU has been and probably will always be my favorite tier). However, NU was becoming a little stale for me so I thought I'd venture into the unknown waters of RU. I thought it would be easiest to learn a new tier by making a defensive team that eases predictions. I also wanted to integrate Kabutops in somehow, since it's one of my favorite pokemon and I never got to use it in NU. Make a team of unbreakable walls + a Kabutops, that's where my thought process was when I started. Then I got to work

Teambuilding

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I Started with Amoongus, being fully aware at how good defensively this thing can be. With good bulk and access to recovery+regenerator and a 100% sleep inducing move, along with a key defensive resistance to fighting, I knew this was a good place to begin. I wasn't worried with the movepool at this point, since I normally pick 6 mons that work well together with a plan of movesets and EV's in mind before they're actually set in stone. Next Thing I was looking for were resistances to Fire (Delphox, Emboar, etc) Ice (Mega Abomosnow, etc.) Psychic (See Magical Fox) and Flying (Braviary, etc.).

Specially defensive Alomomola fit the bill. There's nothing sexy about a regenerator core, but with resistances to ice and fire plus superb bulk along with recovery in wish/regenerator Alomomola just seemed to make sense. I could always find a psychic/flying resist later and with access to Scald (Ban scald lulz) Big Luvdisc has a good chance to burn incoming physical threats, which is always troublesome for the opponent. 2 walls down 2 more to go, I continued on my search for an unbreakable team.

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My love for NU just couldnt escape me on my voyeur in RU. As stated before I needed a flying/psychic resist, and a team that forces a lot of switches benefits from hazards and switch advantage as well. That led me to Probo, as it has been one of my favorite special defensive walls in NU thus far. With access to Rocks and Volt switch, this magnet adds exactly what I needed to this team. My Team looks pretty sound to this point imo, but I wanted that 4th wall just to be sure I couldnt be broken.

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Ok this is my last NU poke, I swear. I needed another physical wall, and I noticed that set-up mons behind subs could potentially be a huge problem. I looked for phasers and couldnt find anything that had that "wow" factor for me, and I became discouraged. Then I remembered watching Teddeh play in an NU tourny with an interesting Spiritomb set that I had never seen before, but really loved. With infiltrator and will-o alongside STAB priority, this thing can cripple mons behind a sub and annoy opponents even further. Theres another trick to this Spiritomb set, but i'll reveal that later.

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Ah finally, my bromigo Kabutops can join the team. With my walls finally in place, I can add the setup sweeper that I made this team for. Hate to keep referencing NU but right now Gatr wrecks the tier, so I thought why not emulate that set on Kabutops? With Access to Swords Dance and STAB priority + Waterfall, this thing can clean up everything that the walls have crippled. It also gets weak armor, which gets up +1 speed if its hit, making this thing faster and even more deadly. At this point I was really liking how my team was shaping up, only 1 left until I could explore RU.

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Let me clarify, I've maybe played 3 games of RU before making this team. Even though I have very little experience with this tier, I know one things for certain about RU- Yanmega destroys it. It's all over forums, Youtube, even the NU room on showdown. I couldnt help myself, I had to try it out and see for myself the power of yanmega. And boy I found out real quick about its power. Amazing coverage as a special attacker with access to speed boost is what sold me, as I needed a mon that I could switch in after volt switch that annihilated pretty much everything. Now that I had my team in place, I sat back and produced the easy part, the sets.

The Sets​

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
IVs: 0 Atk
Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Synthesis

Not much can be said about this standard Amoongus set. As previously mentioned this thing has total survivability with access to synthesis + Regenerator, and with black sludge + giga drain you have so many ways of viable recovery that you almost have to try to let this thing die. It's that good. Stab sludge bomb is nothing to laugh at either, as it has a solid chance to poison and gets off respectable chip damage. Spore is also so nice to have, and it's very spammable if they dont have a grass type.

Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Scald

Again, not much needed on this standard Alomomola set. It eats hits and wears down opponents by (yawn) wish/protect/toxic shenanigans. It also passes HUGE wishes which can support Spiritomb and probopsdd immensely. Scald is just too good of a move not to add it on, as it is STAB and has a chance to burn incoming physical attackers. It's special defense is nothing special even after full investment and a positive nature, but it's HP is what makes this thing so good.

Probopass @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Earth Power

Stealth Rocks and Volt Switch along with flying/psychic resistances are what got this magnet on my team. From there I looked at what this team needed most, and thought T-wave would be nice to add as it makes Probo a little more versatile. Electric types and lightningrod users kind of laugh at this moveset, so throwing on earth power gives Probo a little more surprise factor and gets off respectible chip damage, which is all I could ask for. I thought about using toxic over t-wave, but with amoonguss' sludge bomb and alomomola's toxic I didnt find a need for it here.

Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Foul Play
- Sucker Punch
- Shadow Sneak

I really love this set. Again shout out to Teddeh for introducing it to me. Defensive spiritomb gives me immunties to psychic and fighting, but thats not why it's here. Infiltrator + Will-o and stab Priority whittles opponents behind a sub will-o can just cripple offensive threats outright, making it easier to set up with kabutops. The real ace on this is foul play. Even if the opponent is burned, foul play still uses the opponents regular attack stat, killing offensive threats who think they can just set up extra Sword Dances on your sucker punches. Just avoid getting burned yourself and this set works wonders.

Kabutops @ Lum Berry
Ability: Weak Armor
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Frustration

The man of the hour. Bro Beans himself. This is my win condition in many games (unless the opponent has forfeited out of frustration branching from not being able to break my walls). Not much can switch in against a +2 Waterfall + Aqua Jet/Frustration, making this a huge threat. Aqua Jet can be useful earlier in the game too, as Stab priority is always nice to have. Lum berry lets you set up in a defensive mon's face as it tries to status you in false confidence, and weak armor gives you extra speed to help sweep late game. Frustration is used over return in case your opponent has a ditto, because even if it copies Kabutops +2 it's happiness is more then likely generated at 255, rendering frustration useless. the little things go a long way in pokemon.

Yanmega @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain
- HP Ground
- Protect

Like I said, it's no surprise to anybody that this thing is a threat. Nothing really appreciates switching into this monster, barring Gligar and Moltres. Protect is here just in case you need the extra +1 speed, allowing me to run modest, which I like since this originally came onto the team as a wallbreaker. With proper predictions this thing destroys teams and creates so many holes all by itself. Giga drain hinders bulky water types and STAB bug buzz destroys grass types, 2 things that arent too phazed but unboosted waterfalls from kabutops. HP Ground over air slash to hit steel types that dont think Yanmega can hit them. This things a threat, no if's and's or but's about it.

The Breakdown​

Guys, I love this team. It's helped me learn the RU tier and has gotten me to as high as 162 on the ladder. Kabutops is awesome, Yanmega runs the tier, and my walls are pretty unbreakable. But no team is perfect. Entry hazards on my side of the field hurt, since I'm doing a lot of switching to counter threats along with a 4x weakness to stealth rocks *Cough Cough Yanmega Cough*. There are two reasons why I'm here writing this for yall today. 1. To show off a very effective team that was built with little to no knowledge of the tier, and 2. To help me with my hazard problem. Rapid spin on my sweeping Kabutops just doesnt make much sense to me cause I need aqua jet for priority, waterfall is my strongest move, and frustration to kill things such as amoonguss and alomomola after a switch in to a +2 waterfall. I like my team as is but if there's a way to make it better, I'm all ears. Thanks to anyone who has read all the way through, you guys rock. Please help a guy out and suggest some things! Peace :]

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[Molk]

Sup VI minutes, cool team, however i think there are a few ways to make it better. (in fact i actually have two alternative ways to fix this up lol).

First off, Yanmega has been banned by a supermajority in the last suspect vote and the ban will become official in two days or so, so of course you'll need to replace it if you want to continue using this team. Thankfully i think there's something that fits the bill admirably here, and that's Choice Scarf Moltres. Scarf Moltres can still fill the revenge killer/cleaner role that Yanmega can thanks to its increased Speed stat and high BP STAB moves, and it can even use U-turn to help you get the switch advantage when you need it. I think it'll work pretty damn well here. Choice Scarf Moltres also helps out a bit against Cobalion, who seems like quite an annoyance for this team if Alomomola doesn't score a burn with Scald tbh, and it happens to form a FWG core with Alomomola and Amoonguss, so there's that.

Scarf Moltres

Moltres @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
- U-turn

Secondly, Probopass is a pretty interesting Pokemon, but there's another Pokemon in the RU tier who outclasses it for the most part, and that's Registeel. Registeel has even better defenses than Probopass, a better typing all around, and a consistent way of dealing damage through Seismic Toss. The only thing Probopass really has over Registeel is access to Volt Switch, so i'd definitely give this a try.

Registeel

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Iron Head

As you mentioned earlier you really need a way to get rid of entry hazards on this team, and honestly the only effective way i can see you doing this is by changing your Kabutops from a Swords Dance set to an offensive Rapid Spin set. This ensures that your Kabutops keeps at least some form of offensive presence while still being able to perform its just as a Rapid Spinner, Kabutops naturally pairs up well with Moltres too so there's that. Even if you keep SD Kabutops or use it on another team, i'd heavily suggest that you use Stone Edge over Frustration. Water/Rock is pretty solid coverage all around and Stone Edge is exactly 1.5x as powerful as Frustration thanks to STAB, the only problem is the accuracy.

Rapid Spin Kabutops

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall / Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet

If you decide to add Choice Scarf Moltres as a replacement to Yanmega on this team, then running Pursuit on Spiritomb over Shadow Sneak Is a natural choice. Pursuit lets you trap Moltres's most common counter: Slowking with ease, clearing the way for a Choice Scarf Moltres cleanup quite easily. This is made even more easy by the fact that Choice Scarf Moltres runs U-turn. Resisted Sucker Punch hits just as hard as a neutral Shadow Sneak regardless and you can simply burn Pokemon that resist Dark-type moves, so mono dark coverage isn't too big of a problem here. I'd also suggest that you try out Max Attack Spiritomb with BlackGlasses. This powers up your Sucker Punch and Pursuit immensely, making it that much easier to snipe frailer Pokemon and Ghost/Psychic-types, and because of Will-O-Wisp Spiritomb still has the same utility as before.

Spiritomb

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 64 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sucker Punch
- Foul Play
- Pursuit
(The Speed evs here let you outspeed and burn both Rhyperior and the Doublade who creep it).

Lastly, i'd consider changing around the EV spreads of both Alomomola and Amoonguss. Because of the way Alomomola's stat spread works, maximizing both HP and Special Defense is kinda overkill if you ask me. You could almost definitely get away with removing those HP EVs and pumping them into Defense, this increases Alomomola's overall bulk significantly because Alomomola's base HP is so high compared to both of its defenses, and removing the HP evs actually makes little difference in how well Alomomola takes hits (think OU Chansey/UU Blissey). Two EV Spreads you could try out are 104 HP / 252 Defense / 152 Special Defense with a Bold nature, and 4 HP / 252 Defense / 252 Special Defense with a Calm Nature. Alomomola's Wishes are massive regardless, even without maximum HP investment, so there shouldn't be a problem there.

On top of this, an EV Spread of 252 HP / 160 Defense / 96 Special Defense with a Bold Nature should work out for Amoonguss. This lets you avoid the 2HKO from both +2 Virizion's Stone Edge and Life Orb Reckless Hitmonlee's High Jump Kick after Stealth Rock, and boosts your special defense a little bit to take on Electric-types such as Jolteon, Heliolisk, and Rotom-C even more easily. I'd also consider running Foul Play over Synthesis on Amoonguss. This ensures that Amoonguss isn't set up bait for Doublade with sleep clause in effect, gives you a way to dent Escavalier and Durant on the switch in (Foul Play actually does more than Hidden Power Fire to AV Escavalier), and because of Regenerator, Giga Drain, and Alomomola's Wish support, Amoonguss shouldn't have a problem staying healthy.

Hope i helped!

 

[VI Minutes]

Thank you for the suggestions!

Looks like my miniscule knowledge of RU showed! I'll definitely switch out yanmega for moltres, didnt know that was getting banned, and I like your other suggestions as well. I knew Registeel outclassed Probo but like you said it does have volt switch, and switching into yanmega was huge cause of its diverse movepool. But switching over to a choiced moltres may make me consider registeel now.

I'll change the EV spreads over too and try it out. I was also considering changing amoonguss to gligar for defog support and keeping my Kabutops the way it was (except switching frustration to stone miss). Thoughts?

 

[Molk]

Oh yeah just an alternative suggestion, you could try replacing Amoonguss with Spikes Roselia to help out Moltres with cleaning up a little bit, especially considering Spiritomb is a solid spinblocker, but that opens you up a little bit on the physical side.

Gligar over Amoonguss *could* work out as well, but keep in mind that you're leaving yourself quite a bit more open to Electric-types with coverage when you do this, a lot of them in the tier run Hidden Power Water/Ice or even have coverage of one of these types regardless. Registeel can hold them off, but is pretty reliant on Alomomola's wish

 

[VI Minutes]

I'll try out everything and see what works the best. Thanks for the input man I appreciate it :] Molk

 

[tutterydiglett]

Hi VI Minutes

I also support Molk's suggestions on Rapid Spin Kabu, as your team really despises hazards and you have an Yanmega.

Another thing that I suggest for you is to remove HP Ground on Yanmega. Sure it hits Steel-types that it normally can't touch, but you don't really want it to be facing off against a Steel-type in the first place. I believe that Air Slash would be a much better choice as it's able to OHKO Hitmonlee and is generally a very good coverage move. You are also able to beat other Yanmegas a lot more easily.

Also, Steel type Pokemon in general does seem to give your team trouble. Kabutops lacks anything to really stop them (perhaps Low Kick?) and Probopass does almost nothing w/ Earth power. I suggest offensive SR Duggy > Probopass as it gives your team a solid way of trapping and killing Steel types that would otherwise hinder Yanmega/Kabutops.

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash/Life Orb
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 21 HP
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch/Reversal/Toxic

The IVS are so that you get down to 1 HP after 2 Seismic Tosses from w/e you might meet (in case you're using Reversal) but if you're not, just stick to 31. Sucker Punch is to add some priority to your team and Toxic actually comes in useful sometimes as a last-ditch attempt to stop some set up sweepers.